


X Never Marks The Spot

by scarletassasin



Category: Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: Archeologist AU, F/F, Rating May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-03-13 11:25:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 28,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13569603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarletassasin/pseuds/scarletassasin
Summary: When Kimberly finally gets the opportunity to go on the expedition of her dreams with her best friend Jason, Billy their navigator and Zack and Trini, two mercenaries, she realizes that she's gotten herself into something a lot more complicated than she had expected.





	1. Chapter 1

“Ms Hart, please. This is just a waste of my time, as well as your own” Mr. Lloyd practically scoffs.

 

“Please! If you could just get me _one_  meeting with the board, I could convince them for the funding!” Kimberly exclaims.

 

“May I remind you that I am also on the museum’s board of directors, Ms Hart” he glares. “And you’ve tried to run this idea by me before and just like last time I will tell you, no. This isn’t something worth chasing, it’s a dead end.”

 

“We don’t _know_ that. Right now all evidence is pointing towards the Indian ocean and according to the seismic activity-”

 

“Ms Hart! Do you hear yourself right now? The museum simply does not have the funding to pay for you to travel around the Indian ocean aimlessly until you find your little diamond.”

 

“ _Crystal”_ Kimberly corrects. “It’s called a Zeo crystal. And some cultures believe that it could be the source of life itself-” 

 

“Well maybe one of those cultures can fund your little expedition then” he scoffs again before leaving Kimberly's small office, bursting through the wooden doors.

 

“Mr Lloyd, please!” Kimberly yells as she follows the man out into the hallway. “I just need one chance.” This time he stops and sighs before he turns around to Kimberly.

 

“We both know you’ve had a chance before and that didn’t go so well, did it?” This time the look he gives her is sympathetic. “Don’t let your talents go to waste on a wild goose chase like this” he says before turning around and walking down the hallway.

 

Kimberly sighs as she reenters her office and slams the wooden doors behind her. She leans on her small desk and runs a hand through her short hair as she contemplates her next move. This was probably the fourth time she’d tried to convince one of her bosses at the museum about this expedition. Some of the museum’s board members, like Lloyd, listened to her proposition the first time only because of who she was before this museum job and all her success then, but others would avoid her completely. This was the second time she talked to Mr Lloyd about it because he was one of the only stuck-up board members who wasn’t as bad as the others, but it wasn't as worse as the first time she talked to him about it when he laughed.

A knock on her door interrupts her thoughts and she calls out a choked “It’s open” before Jason peeks his head through the door. He walks in and closes the door behind him, a half-eaten apple in his hand as he takes in her distraught state.

 

“Didn’t go well, huh?” he asks softly. 

 

“What do you think?" she sighs. "No one’s ever gonna give me a second chance, especially when the expedition is as crazy as this one.”

 

“Well _I_ don’t think it’s crazy” he offers and she gives him a knowing look. “Okay, just a little. But _only_ because there isn’t enough evidence as to where it’s located. You’d basically have to travel the entire Indian ocean until you find it” Jason says as he plops down on the old couch in front of Kimberly’s desk.

 

“I think it actually might be closer to Indonesia.”

 

“Well _that_ narrows it down” he jokes and she throws one of her pens at him.

 

“If I had the funding, I could find it. I _know_ I can” she says as she looks back at the large marked-up map on the wall behind her desk.

 

“And I know that too. You’re too stubborn to let something like that go. But unless you can convince some rich guy to give you that money, we’re not going anywhere.”

 

“We?” she grins.

 

“We’re best friends and we work together. If you’re going on some crazy expedition to find the possible source of life itself, I expect you to invite me” Jason smiles and Kimberly laughs.

 

“So step one would be finding a rich guy that I could convince to pay for my expedition?”

 

“Yup. And step two is seducing him if words don’t work” he teases.

 

“Ew Jace, gross!”

 

“I’m kidding, don’t worry” he continues laughing before he finishes off his apple and chucks it into the small trash can next to Kimberly’s desk and stands up. “We still on for tonight?”

 

“What’s tonight again?” Kimberly asks as she starts rummaging through some of her research and papers.

 

“We’re meeting up at the bar across the street after work later with everyone else, remember?”

 

“Shit, I completely forgot! Raincheck?”

 

“Again? Come on, Kim you’ve been letting this whole thing get to you for months, you need to unwind a bit.”

 

“It’s been a long day, I think I’m just gonna head home.”

 

“Whatever you want. But make sure you don’t stay up in this office all night. If you’re not gonna hang out and have fun, you’re not gonna work yourself to death.”

 

“Don’t worry Jason I won’t” she smiles at him as he leaves the room.

 

————————

 

Despite what she promised Jason, she was still up doing research in her office office at 3am. And she’s gotten nowhere. Just to the same dead end she always reaches. If she had someone who was better with coordinates than her working on this, they’d probably be getting somewhere. But like always, she was alone on this. Of course she had Jason, who was the only real friend she had left, but there were times where she wished she had more people around her that she could confide in. But after what she did, she doesn’t expect that anymore from anyone.

 

A knock on her door again interrupts her. She expects it to be Jason again but he’s probably still at the bar.

 

“Yes?” she answers and the door opens slowly to reveal a short man making his way inside.

 

“Kimberly Hart, I assume?” the man asks as he makes his way up to her desk.

 

“Who’s asking?” she says cautiously as she eyes the man. 

 

“My name is Alpha. I’m here on behalf of my employer Mr. Zordon.” _This_ gets Kimberly’s attention.

 

“Zordon? The owner of that tech company?” she almost stutters.

 

“Yes. He’d like to have a word with you and your colleague Jason Scott.”

 

“I know Jason’s schedule so I can schedule a meeting with you right now if that works” she offers.

 

“Mr. Zordon would prefer the meeting right now, if that works.”

 

“O-Okay. I’ll just call Jason. He’s right across the street.”

 

————————

 

“What’s the big emergency Kim?” Jason asks, his voice a bit slurred. “You finally decide to join the party? And who’s _that?”_ Jason asks as he points at Alpha who’s waiting by a limo behind Kimberly. “Kim, when I said ‘seduce a rich guy’ I was kidding, you know that right?”

 

“What? I didn’t-” she sighs. “Jason, Zordon wants to talk to us!” she says a bit excitedly.

 

“Zordon?”

 

“Yeah, you know, the guy who owns that big tech company. A billionaire or something like that.”

 

“And why does he want to talk to _us_?”

 

“Jace, he’s a big-time collector. He’s probably got more artifacts than our entire museum. If he wants to talk to us, it’s probably about that!”

 

“And he wants to meet now?”

 

“Yeah. You know how cryptic rich people can be” she jokes before she starts leading Jason to the car.

 

“Hello Mr Scott. I’m Alpha, it’s nice to meet the both of you” Alpha says as he shakes Jason’s hand.

 

“Likewise” Jason says before he gets into the car beside Kimberly. Alpha shuts the door and makes his way to the front of the car in the seat next to the driver.

 

The drive doesn’t take too long, but they make their way outside of the city to the large field where Zordon’s mansion is. And it’s quite the spectacle. It’s probably the biggest house Kimberly’s ever seen with a huge garden and statues everywhere.

The driver pulls up to the front door and Alpha leads her and Jason into the house. And it’s even more impressive on the inside with its marble floors and large staircases and the paintings and statues everywhere. Kimberly even spotted a few minor artifacts as they followed Alpha down the hall and it felt like walking through every history-lover’s dream house.

Alpha finally stops walking in front of two large wooden doors and turns back to the two of them before proceeding. 

 

“This is Mr. Zordon’s office” he says cheerfully as he knocks on the door and opens them after a muffled ‘Enter’ is heard from the other side.

 

“Mr. Zordon” Alpha says. “I’ve brought over Ms. Kimberly Hart and Mr. Jason Scott.”

 

“Thank you Alpha” a deep voice says from behind the desk. Zordon’s large leather desk chair is turned around so they can’t see him. Suddenly it turns to reveal Zordon himself. He stands up and picks up a crutch that was leaning on his desk before limping his way over to them.

 

“Ms. Hart” Zordon says. “It’s nice to finally meet you. I’ve heard so much about you.”

 

“Y-You have?” Kimberly asks incredulously.

 

“Of course. I own Angel Grove’s National museum- the one that you work at - so I never hear the board members ever stop talking about you” he grins.

 

“Not good things I'm guessing” Kimberly says and Zordon laughs.

 

“Not always, no. I’ve heard some of them talk about how bright the two of you are, but how you’re a bit…overambitious” Kimberly and Jason laugh nervously. “But the reason you’re here is because of your interest in the Zeo crystal.” Kimberly’s eyes light up at that.

 

“You know about the Zeo crystal?”

 

“Well believe it or not, but I _am_ a historian. I was just like the two of you when I was younger.”

 

“You were?” Jason asks. “Then how’d you get from that to owning one of the most successful tech companies in the world?”

 

“Hard work mostly. And it helped that I came from a wealthy family. But to get to the matter at hand; I want to fund your expedition to find the Zeo crystal.”

 

Kimberly’s jaw almost drops and her eyes widen as she stares at the man as she can’t quite believe what he just said.

 

“F-Fund our- You want to fund- _Pay_ for our- Oh my god… I need to sit down” Kimberly says as she falls back onto one of the leather armchairs behind her. “Why?” she’s finally able to ask.

 

“The Zeo crystal is something I pursued long ago with my own team of archeologists. And since I am incapable of going out to find it,” he says as he gestures at his cane and leg, “I want _you_ to find it, since it’s something you already know quite enough about and something you really care about.”

 

“Thank you! Thank you so much!” Kimberly says as she hugs Zordon. After realize that she’s _hugging_ Zordon, she pulls back and smiles sheepishly. “I mean; Thank Mr. Zordon. We won’t let you down” she shakes his hand. Jason thanks him and shakes his hand too before Zordon makes his way back to his desk.

 

“There are just a few rules and agreements we have to set up first” Zordon says as he starts looking through his files.

 

“Of course sir. Anything” Jason says.

 

“Firstly, you will need a team” Zordon says.

 

“I’m sorry, a _team?”_ Kimberly asks, tilting her head.

 

“Of course. An expedition like this isn’t something two people can handle on their own. But don’t worry, I’ve already picked out some of the best and brightest individuals to help you. As well as a ship and a crew” Zordon says as he lays out a few open files on his desk in front of Kimberly and Jason.

 

Kimberly skims the files a bit. They all seem impressive enough. The hard part was being able to get along with these people that she might even have to spend _months_ with. 

 

“Thank you again sir, this is all so… overwhelming but we really appreciate it.” Kimberly says. “When do we leave?”

 

“In two days. Everything is ready, I even contacted the museum to let them know you’ll be away for a while. All you have to do is pack and get ready for your travels. And try not to discuss it in public. We don’t want any competitors following you or sabotaging your mission. And believe me, things like that _do_  happen.” Zordon says before he nods at Alpha who leads the two of them out of the office.

 

“I’ll get the two of you home now. Be ready by 7am on Sunday for us to pick you up and get you to the ship” he says as he escorts them to the car.

 

————————

 

Surprisingly enough, the only thing Kimberly really had to do for the two days before leaving was pack and call her family to let them know that she’d basically be traveling the Indian ocean for a few weeks - maybe even months. Her social life hasn’t been too exciting lately so besides Jason, who was coming with her, there wasn’t anyone she’d have to talk to before leaving.

The car gets there at exactly 7am and Alpha is sitting in the front seat next to the driver again. They pick up Jason and drive to the docks.

 

The ship they pull up to is a lot bigger than Kimberly expected and it just makes her wonder how much money Zordon really has. It’s not the size of a cruise ship or anything but it’s definitely bigger than any ship Kimberly has ever been on, even though that isn’t many. 

There are people rushing around on the deck getting things ready, crew members, and a few on the docks carrying things up to the ship.

 

“This way!” Alpha says as he leads Kimberly and Jason up the stairs to the main deck. “The captain will introduce himself to you and as for your teammates…” Alpha says as he stops in his track to ponder. “They’re probably already here. Or maybe not all of them yet. I'll escort you to your living quarters soon” Alpha says as he scurries off to look for the captain.

 

“This is _so_ cool” Jason says as he looks around the deck in awe. He walks up to the railing to look over the side of the ship, the smile on his face never fading, before he starts walking around the deck curiously. Kimberly walks over to the front of the ship and leans over the railing to get a good look of the view. It’s early so the sun is still rising and the way the softness of the lighting covers the water is breathtaking from her view.

Another car with tinted windows like the one that brought Kimberly and Jason pulls up on the docks. She hears Alpha say something excitedly before he rushes off to greet whoever arrived. Before Kimberly can see who’s getting out of the car, Jason calls her name from behind her. 

She turns around to see him walking up to her with another boy beside him. He looks about their age.

 

“Kim, this is Billy Cranston. He’s our navigator” Jason says with a smile on his face as if he’s already infatuated with the other boy.

 

“Nice to meet you Billy. I’m Kim.” 

 

“I know who you are, I read everyone’s file. It’s nice to meet you guys too. I’m gonna help you find the exact coordinates to the crystal. Or well, the island that the crystal’s on. Or it might not be an island, it could be an under-water cave or sunken temple or-”

 

“Don’t worry Billy, most of the evidence points to ‘island’ being the answer to _that_ question. Besides, that’s what I packed for” Kimberly jokes.

 

“Well with the three of us together we’ll probably be able to find that crystal no matter where it is” Jason says.

 

“Oh, it’s not just the three of us. Didn’t you guys read all the files?” Billy asks.

 

“I skimmed through some of them, but uh no” Kimberly says sheepishly.

 

“It’s okay, they’ll probably be here any minute” Billy offers.

 

“Ah there you are!” Alpha says as he walks over to the three of them with another boy and a shorter girl in tow. Like Billy, they seem to be about Kim and Jason’s age. 

 

“These are the final two members of your group” Alpha says as he gestures to the two newcomers. “I’ll let you all get acquainted while I have a word with the captain” he says before he walks away.

The five of them look at each other awkwardly at first before Jason breaks the silence.

 

“I’m Jason. This is Billy and that’s-”

 

“Kimberly” she's says as she extends her arm for one of them to shake her hand. “And you are…”

 

“I’m Zack” the boys says as he grabs Kimberly’s hand and shakes it enthusiastically. Kimberly looks to the girl who shakes her hand as well.

 

“Trini” she says simply before she adjusts the beanie on her head. Her hand feels a bit rough from calluses but Kimberly can’t help but stare at the - fairly attractive - shorter girl.

 

“We’re the muscle of this team” Zack says. 

 

“Muscle?” Jason asks confused.

 

“Yeah, we’re basically your bodyguards. You know, 'hired guns'” Zack adds.

 

Jason looks at the still looking a bit confused. “So private military or something?”

 

“Something like that” Zack grins.

 

“We’re mercenaries” Trini says bluntly and she watches the three of them as if she’s challenging them to react negatively. Kim blinks and her eyebrows raise a bit in shock because there is a bit of a negative perception for mercenaries only working for money, but if Zordon hired them, there’s no way they’d be untrustworthy.

 

“Your rooms are ready for you!” Alpha says as he suddenly appears behind them. “Follow me.”

 

Alpha leads them to a door nearby and down some stairs inside. The inside of the ship seems so bland to Kimberly with all the wooden floors and grey metal walls surrounding them as they walk down the hallways. 

Alpha suddenly stops mid-walk in front of a door. “This room has three beds for the boys” he says as opens the door and stares at them expectantly to go in. “There weren’t many bedrooms available so we had to split you up in two rooms.”

Zack peeks his head through the doorway and smiles before rushing in with his duffle bag slung over his shoulder. “I call top-bunk!” he says as he launches himself to his bed. Kimberly sees Trini shake her head and laugh at Zack’s antics. Jason takes the bed under Zack’s and Billy takes the single on the other side of the room. It’s small room with only a single dresser but at least there’s a bathroom.

 

“Okay girls, follow me to _your_ room now” Alpha says as he starts walking down the hall again and the girls follow. 

The next door he stops at isn't too far from the boys’ room. He swings the door open and the room is similar to the other room, with a single dresser, a bathroom and two singles beds on each side of the room.

_  
_ Trini saunters in and drops her duffle bag on one of the beds before looking around and examining the room. “Cozy” she mutters.

 

“I’m glad you think so!” Alpha says. “Now that you’re all settled in, I’ll be going. Your ship is leaving in 15 minutes, so don’t go anywhere” he jokes. Trini huffs before lying down on her bed and Kimberly gives Alpha a small smile. “Alright then” he says before he disappears down the hallway.

Kimberly drops her own bags on the floor before she takes a seat on her bed. She glances at the rectangular porthole window before her eyes settle on Trini. Trini just tucks her hands behind her head on the pillow as she stares up at the ceiling.

 

“You pack light, huh?” Kimberly says, breaking the silence. Trini spares her a quick glance before she looks back up at the ceiling.

 

“Yup.”

 

“And all your… weapons fit in there?”

 

“This bag’s just clothes. The weapons and ammo are in crates in storage somewhere on the ship.”

 

“Oh. Cool” Kimberly says as the silence takes over again. “So, you don’t talk much either, huh?” Kimberly asks nervously.

 

Trini just shrugs before she sits up in bed and turns so she’s facing Kim. She opens her mouth to say something else before a knock on the door interrupts her.

 

They both turn to see Zack standing in the open doorway with Jason and Billy behind him.

 

“Me and the guys decided we’re all gonna get to know each other tonight over drinks. One of the crew members told me where the stash is. You in?” Zack says with a grin.

 

“When did you even find the time to meet a crew member and find this out?” Kimberly asks with a laugh.

 

“When it comes to drinking and food, Zack’s an expert” Trini laughs. “Yeah, we’re in” she tells him.

 

“Awesome!” is all Zack says as he takes off down the hall. Jason and Billy laugh before waving at the girls and following him.

 

“You two seem pretty close” Kimberly says.

 

“Yeah he’s pretty much the only friend I have right now.”

 

“Same with me and Jason” Kim pauses. “So, no boyfriend we should be worried about stowing away on the ship?” she says with a laugh.

 

“I don’t do boyfriends” Trini says as she lies back down again and stares up at the ceiling as if she’s trying to avoid making eye-contact like she was earlier.

 

“Oh” Kimberly says. “So- girlfriends” she realizes.

 

“What’s with all the questions anyway?” Trini sits back up to look at Kimberly. “Trying to see if I’m trustworthy or not?” she glares before she stares at the floor, her slight anger is clear now.

 

“N-No I just- We’re gonna be spending a lot of time together so we might as well get to know each other. I guess I wouldn’t mind getting another friend out of this” she shrugs.

 

Trini’s expression softens as she looks back up to the other girl. When Kimberly gives her a half-smile she smiles back this time and it almost makes Kimberly melt.

 

“I guess I wouldn’t mind either.”

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

“So T and I scope this place for about a week, and it’s not a big warehouse or anything, so there isn’t a lot of security, but the guy who hired us kept going on about how it would be a huge drug bust and how we’d all get paid _big_ time if we can get evidence and all that-” Zack cuts himself off as he takes another sip of his beer. “So on moving day there’s even less staff and security in the warehouse, so that’s when we make our move. We break in, tie everyone up, no one’s really armed so it’s pretty easy. Then T walks over to one of the boxes with a huge smile on her face thinking about that pay-day money as she opens it and-” Zack starts giggling mid-sentence.

Trini grabs a handful of pretzels from one of the bowls on the counter and tosses them at Zack who doubles over in laughter.

“I’m sorry T- But your face!” he says between laughs.

“So what was in the boxes?” Jason asks eagerly from his seat on one of the couches between Kimberly and Billy. 

“Paint!” Zack laughs. “Actual paint! And Trini’s face! She was just staring at it like she didn’t know what to do” Zack says as he starts calming down. “Turns out that private investigator that hired us got some of his info mixed up from his sources and jumped the gun-”

 “It wasn’t _that_ funny” Trini grumbles.

“I guess it was a ‘you had to be there’ moment. But still; I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone look so disappointed over paint before” Zack says and the rest of them start laughing as Trini grumbles to herself again.

A few moments of silence between them all as they drink or pick at the snacks on the table.

“So this crystal thing” Zack says, his eyes on his bottle even though he’s talking to Kimberly. “What is it exactly?”

“It’s called a Zeo crystal and the only thing that we _really_ know about it is that it’s a crystal. There’s evidence across so many different cultures, across different time periods that this crystal exists. And these were people from all over the world, so far from each other, and yet they all knew about this crystal. Some thought it was the source of life but others thought of it as an evil power that would corrupt us all. But none of them ever say where it’s located. It could be moving around or someone could be transporting it, but the last bit of evidence places it in the Indian ocean. It doesn’t specify where but some archeologists think there’s an unknown island somewhere and that _that’s_ where it is.” 

“When you say it can corrupt man, what do you mean exactly?” Billy asks.

“Well, it’s obvious it was really powerful so some believed that when a human got near that kind of power it would definitely corrupt them or even kill them. They were afraid of it.”

Silence falls upon them again, but it isn’t the comfortable silence like before. This is a cautious that they’ve fallen into, like their scared of what their future might hold. Zack eventually starts talking again, trying to lighten the mood as he tells another story but Kimberly doesn’t listen much this time. She focuses on Trini who’s leaning against the counter, twirling her beer bottle in her hands with her brows furrowed while the others laugh at Zack’s story. As if something’s bothering her. The ship rocks a few times, but it’s a relatively calm night at sea so it’s not enough to make Trini stumble where she stands.

Eventually a few crew members start walking into the kitchen looking for coffee for their night shifts so the five of them start making their way back to their rooms. They exchange ‘goodnights’ as Trini and Kimberly separate from the boys and make their way into their room.

“You’re a bit quiet” Kimberly says as she changes into her pajamas. Trini raises her eyebrows as if she’s confused with Kimberly’s statement. “I mean quieter than usual. Did my story about this big-bad crystal scare the scary mercenary?” she jokes but her smile falters when Trini only frowns at the mention of the crystal. “Oh” Kimberly says. 

“It’s not that it scared me” Trini says. “It’s just-” she sighs “Why are we looking for this thing?” 

Kimberly stares at the other girl confused. “What do you mean? It’s an artifact, it’s what archeologists do. We find things that are lost.” 

“Yeah but- if this thing is as powerful as you say, then finding it and bringing it to our world… What would that do?” Trini says and leaves Kimberly stunned for a moment.

“If we don’t find it, someone else will. And their intentions may be a bit more… extreme than ours” Kimberly offers.

“So that’s why we’re doing this? So this thing doesn’t fall into the wrong hands?” Trini asks incredulously.

“Well yeah but-”

“It’s what you guys do” Trini says with a sigh.

“Trini, I promise I’m not gonna let anything bad happen. If worst comes to worst, I won’t even take the crystal. We’ll just leave it on whatever island it’s on. But right now, no one knows what this thing can do so _we_ have to find out” Kimberly says and Trini sighs again and nods.

“Okay. I hope your judgement’s on the same level of your nerdiness” Trini teases and Kimberly smiles when she sees a grin on the other girl’s face.

“What do you mean ‘nerdiness?’” she raises an eyebrow.

“By ‘ _nerdiness,_ ’ I mean the fact that you get so excited when you’re talking about all this history stuff and you just start ramblning” she says and Kimberly laughs. “It’s kind of adorable, actually” and Kimberly blushes at that.

“Yeah, Jason thinks I could go on about this stuff forever if no one bothered to stop me” Kimberly says sheepishly as Trini laughs.

“So what’s the deal with the two of you?” Trini asks.

“What?” Kimberly asks as she gets under the covers in her bed.

“You and Jason” she clarifies as she lies down in bed on her side to face Kimberly.

“Oh. Well we’re not _together_ or anything. Not like that. We’re just- we’ve really good friends since college. And our friendship is basically the only positive relationship in my life right now” she sighs. “Besides my parents I guess.”

“And me” Trini offers with a warm smile.

“And you” Kimberly says with a smile of her own. That turns out to be the final part of their conversation as they lie back and eventually fall asleep and Kimberly’s smile doesn't fade until then.

———————

 “So south of Sri Lanka?” Kimberly asks with an eager smile on her face. Billy sighs as he examines the work that he and Kim have done so far in finding the crystal’s location.

“No” he sighs exasperatedly. 

“Damn it!” Kimberly yells as she practically jumps out of her seat on Billy’s bed and starts pacing. It’s been a little over a week at sea with her and Billy trying to find out where exactly the crystal is and although they’re getting close, they don’t have the _exact_ coordinates yet. They still have _days_ before getting close to East Asia and the Indian ocean itself but Kimberly is still anxious on whether they’d be able to find the location before getting close.

Jason’s already asleep on his bed as Billy and Kim continue looking over evidence and Billy’s coordinates with a giant map between them on the floor. Trini and Zack burst into the room at one point and sit on the bed that Kim was just on with Trini holding a giant bag of chips which she refuses to share with Zack.

“No luck?” Trini asks through a mouthful of chips.

“Nada” Kimberly says as she runs a hand through her own hair and lies down on the floor with a heavy sigh.

Zack is finally able to reach into the chip bag and grab a handful of chips which gets him a glare from Trini. He eats a few before tossing one at Jason’s face. When the other boy doesn’t flinch he tosses another a bit harder and Jason jumps up.

“Did we find it?” he asks in a shocked sleepy haze. Zack giggles which earns him a punch from Trini.

“No” Trini says. “Zack’s just bothering you. And it’s time for a break.”

“We can’t just take a break now, we’re so close” Kimberly says as she starts analyzing a few of the papers in front of her and chews on the back of her pen.

“You guys have been in here since this morning” Zack says. “It’s already-” he looks at his watch, “it’s 8 o’clock!”

“Which means, break time” Trini insists.

“Five more minutes” Kimberly says as she pays no attention to the two of them and focuses on the work in front of her.

Trini gives Zack a knowing look. “You take Billy and Jason, I’ve got Kim.” Zack nods.

“All right boys, get up” Zack says as he pulls Jason to his feet before moving over to Billy and doing the same.

“But-” Billy starts. 

“Not buts. We’re still crossing the Pacific so you’ve still got plenty of time before we get anywhere near the Indian ocean. And I know that neither of you have eaten today because Trini only brought Kim a sandwich earlier, so we’re moving to the kitchen” Zack says as he pulls the two boys out of the room.

Trini sits down on the floor across from Kimberly and watches her expectantly.

“You know I already ate today, so there’s no reason for you to drag me to the kitchen” Kimberly says without looking up at Trini. 

“I wasn’t gonna take you to the kitchen” Trini says and Kimberly looks up at her curiously to see a grin on the shorter girl’s face.

“Then what-” Kimberly starts as Trini stands up and offers her hand out to help Kimberly off the floor.

“You’ll never know unless you follow me, princess” Trini smiles.

Kimberly groans at the nickname. “Fine” she sighs as she takes Trini’s hand before the other girl pulls her up to her feet.

She follows Trini outside onto the deck and up some stairs. They pass by the navigation room and Trini gives captain Adams a friendly salute through the window before he waves back with a smile.

“Already friends with the crew?” Kimberly asks.

“When you guys lock yourselves up all day to do research there isn’t much for me and Zack to do besides getting to know the crew” she explains.

She leads Kimberly up a few more stars until they’re on top of the navigation room which is the highest accessible part of the ship, and Trini leans against the railing before Kimberly joins her to admire the view ahead of them. Even though it’s already dark out the lights from the ship light up the view in front of them. Kimberly almost gasps at how beautiful the ocean looks in the moonlight and from the ship’s lights illuminating the water.

“I figured you’d need some fresh air after being in that room all day. The view is just a bonus” Trini explains. Kimberly smiles as she leans on the railing, right next to Trini with their shoulders brushing against each other.

Kimberly shivers as the cold ocean air makes contact with her exposed arms and her chest because of her tank top. Trini turns as if she felt Kimberly’s discomfort and starts pulling off her green military jacket. 

“It’s okay Trin, I’m fine” Kimberly says as she wraps her arms around herself.

“Oh please, you’re shivering. Besides, I have more than a tank top on underneath my jacket” Trini says as she gestures at the long-sleeved grey shirt she’s wearing. Kimberly nods with a smile before she takes the jacket from Trini and puts it on. “And I expect to get that back” she teases. 

“We’ll see” Kimberly grins. 

They stand there admiring the view for a while, neither one of them saying anything about that tension in the air between. Kimberly feels her hand inching towards Trini’s on the railing only to pull back and grip on the railing again.

———————— 

“Kimberly!” Billy yells which jolts Kimberly awake from her nap the couch. They’re about 5 days away from the Indian ocean now and the captain kept giving them weird looks every time he’d ask if they knew where the crystal was yet as if his patience was running out. Kimberly doesn't blame him though. If they don’t find the crystal’s location before arriving to the Indian ocean, they’d have to dock and wait at a nearby country’s dock until Kim and Billy found an answer. And that would just mean wasting more time.

“What’s wrong?!” Kim says panicked. 

“I found it!” Billy says excitedly.

“What?! Are you sure?” Kimberly asks.

“Positive. It’s almost in the center of the ocean. South of India.”

“Oh my god” Kimberly breathes as she looks up at Billy who has a huge smile on his face and she smiles back excitedly.

“I’ll give the captain the coordinates” Billy says as he practically runs out of the room. He almost runs into Jason in the doorway but rushes right past him.

“What happened?” Jason asks as he amusedly watches Billy run down the hall.

“Billy found out where the crystal is” she smiles as she examines Billy’s latest notes.

“He did?! Kim, this is huge!” he says.

“I know. We’re so close, Jason. Finally” she sighs.

“I guess we’re drinking again tonight” Jason jokes. “You know, to celebrate.”

“You’ll find _any_ reason to drink and celebrate” she teases.

“What are we celebrating?” Zack asks from the doorway.

“We know where the crystal is” Jason says. 

“Nice!” Zack says as he plops down on the couch. “So does this mean you guys will stop moping around in here all day?”

“We don’t _mope_!” Kimberly exclaims. 

“Oh please, Trini and I have to bring you guys food almost every day because you’re too busy moping to remember to fee yourselves.”

“It’s research, not moping” Kimberly continues as Zack grins. “Where _is_ Trini, anyway?” she asks as she waits for the other girl to walk in and join them.

Zack just lets out a small laugh. “Getting some hopefully” he says and Kimberly has to do a double take.

“What?” Kimberly asks as Zack sits up on the couch to face her and Jason. 

“We were on the bridge last night talking to the captain and this girl on one of the monitor’s kept eyeing T. And since I’m the best wingman ever, I got her and Trini to hang out today” he smiles. Jason nods, impressed and Kimberly just freezes. 

She shakes her head, trying to clear the thoughts rushing through her head about Trini and this other girl and thinks about how Trini can date and hang out with whoever she wants. But it still leaves an unsettling feeling in her chest. 

“We’re on course right now!” Billy says excitedly as he rushes back into the room. “Oh, hey Zack.”

“Hey B.”

“Where’s Trini?”

“On a date that I set up” Zack says proudly and Kimberly’s unsettling feeling grows.

“I’ll be right back” she says as she eagerly walks out of the room. 

If Trini is really interested in this girl there’s only one place she’d take her. The best place on the ship. As soon as Kimberly reaches the main deck she looks up. Even in the dark she sees them, and her eyes widen when she sees Trini leaning against the railing in that spot she had taken Kimberly a few nights ago, above the ship’s bridge, with a girl next to her and their arms intertwined. Both of them with smiles on their faces. And that’s when Kimberly realizes that Trini definitely likes this girl, if she took her to that particular spot. 

The girl then leans over and whispers something in Trini’s ear which Trini laughs at and that unsettling feeling Kimberly has starts to feel more like pain than unsettling.

She sighs and swallows hard before she makes her way back inside and down the stairs again. She finds the boys in the common room where she had left them now bringing out the alcohol and snacks.

“We’re all ready here” Jason says. “You good?” he asks her as he studies her curiously.

“Yeah, just needed some air. We’ve been cramped out in here all day” she says as she tries to put on a smile before she reaches for one of the beers on the counter and opens it to take a long sip.

“Hell yeah!” Zack yells as he takes a sip from his own bottle.

————

Almost two hours in and they’ve somehow gotten into a heated game of uno which they all seem to be failing at because of all they’ve had too much to drink.

Zack ended up giving up after losing so much and is now watching them while eating some chips on the couch. Jason’s wearing Billy’s jacket, Billy’s wearing Jason’s reading glasses and Kimberly’s wearing a blue baseball cap that she got from Zack, which she’s pretty sure it isn’t his.

Everything seems fine so far. They’re having fun, any unsettling thoughts about Trini are all but gone until Trini actually walks into the room and takes a seat next to Zack who looks at her expectantly with a big grin on his face.

“Well?” he asks and Trini punches him in the arm.

“None of your business” she says before grabbing her own beer and looking around the room. “You guys did shots?” she asks as she motions at the empty plastic shot cups scattered along the table and the floor.

“Yeah, you missed out on all the fun” Zack says. “Kimberly over here was in party-animal mode” he says as he jabs a thumb back at Kimberly on the floor who seems too focused on their uno game to look up.

“That true, roomie?” Trini grins. “So you get all fun without me? I see how it is” she teases.

But instead of responding with their usual playful banter in return, Kimberly just shrugs and doesn’t look up at her. Trini’s brows furrow in confusion but before she can say anything to the other girl, Zack is trying to get her attention again.

“Come on, T. Tell me how it went. I’m the one who got you this date anyways” Zack pleads.

“I don’t wanna talk about it” Trini says as she looks at Kimberly across the table who’s still engrossed in her card game with Billy and Jason.

“That bad, huh?” he asks and Kimberly finally looks up at that. Her eyes lock with Trini’s for a split second before Trini opens her mouth to answer and Kimberly looks back down at her cards again.

“It wasn’t bad Zack, I just don’t wanna talk about it” she snaps, a bit more aggressively than she had intended. 

“Sorry T, I didn’t mean to pry or anything. We always talk about this stuff.”

“No, I’m sorry for snapping at you Zack. I’ll tell you about it later” she says as she finishes off her drink and grabs another bottle.

Trini takes a seat on the floor in front of the small coffee table where the others are playing uno, next to Billy. 

“Mind if I join you guys in the next round?” she asks.

“Of course, Trini” Billy says.

“But-” Jason says. “We’re all a lot more drunk than you right now,” he slurs, “so to make it fair you have to drink up before we start.” Trini grins as she starts drinking her beer. She’s already feeling a bit buzzed after finishing off two bottles so fast but she grabs another one anyway.

After Billy wins the round, Jason shuffles the cards before giving them out to everyone. Zack even decides to join the game again since Trini has, but all Trini can focus on is how unusually quiet Kimberly is.

A reverse card is eventually thrown in the game which puts Kimberly right after Trini, so at one point Trini drops a ‘take two’ card. Kimberly gives her a playful glare as she takes another sip from her drink. Kimberly puts down a reverse card again and then gives Trini a ‘take four’ card.

Trini looks up to see that Kimberly has a small smile on her face now that she looks more at ease. Trini ends up winning that game.

“I’ll get you back for that” Kimberly teases and Trini can’t help but smile at Kimberly seeming more upbeat again.

“Challenge accepted, princess” Trini says with a grin. They both start getting more and more competitive after that and the boys eventually give up to leave the two of them play alone. 

Trini wins the first game after the boys leave and Kimberly wins after that. Zack eventually starts complaining that he’s getting bored which gets the girls to eventually stop playing.

Trini looks to Kimberly again as she tidies up the cards and smiles.

“Nice hat” she says and Kimberly reaches up to feel the hat that she forgot she was wearing.

“Thanks.”

“It’s mine, by the way” Trini grins. And Kimberly reaches up to take it off.

“Oh- I’m sorry I thought it was Zack’s- I didn’t know-” Trini reaches for her wrist to stop her from taking it off.

“It’s fine, Kim” Trini laughs. “It suits you” she smiles and all Kimberly can do is incoherently mutter out quick ‘thanks’ as she tries to hide her flushed cheeks.

“Okay losers, time for a _real_ party game” Zack says as he grabs one of the empty beer bottles and places it not he table between them all.

“No way, Zack. We’re _not_ playing spin the bottle, this isn't high school” Trini says.

“It doesn't have to be spin the bottle. We can play truth or dare, get to know each other a bit more. There’s no need to make out with anyone. Unless someone really wants to make out with me” Zack says as he wiggles his eyebrows and looks around to the rest of them expectantly.

“Shut up” Trini laughs as she punches his arm again.

Zack laughs before he spins the bottle, as it stops and points at Billy on one side and Zack on the other.

“Okay, Billy. Truth. Ask away” Zack says.

Billy thinks for a few seconds before looking to Zack. 

“Okay, how about you finally tell us why you call Trini ‘Crazy Girl’” he says and Zack laughs.

“Because she has no self control obviously. But it actually started when she jumped out a helicopter without strapping into her parachute.”

“What?!” Jason asks and Trini grins. 

“Turns out that she’s a pro at skydiving, who’s done it a million times before, and she knew how to put on her parachute midair or some crazy shit like that.”

“I’d also like to add that Zack didn’t end up jumping that day” Trini says with a grin and Zack glares at her as the others laugh.

“I jumped the next time we went skydiving though. Because that was for a mission” Zack adds before he spins the bottle again. 

The next round is Jason and Kimberly so she dares him to do a handstand because she was too drunk to think of anything else. Jason tries and fails and Kimberly decides that it was the best thing to happen that night because as soon as he falls, Trini gets up to show him how it’s done. 

And Trini’s shirt rides up her stomach, or down in this situation, up to her sports bra and Kimberly can’t bring herself to look away.

A few rounds go by, nothing too extreme happens but they’re all at ease and having fun before someone knocks on the metal door and walks in. It’s the girl Trini was with earlier and she’s wearing one of Trini’s jackets, the grey one she was wearing earlier when Kimberly saw them outside. 

“Hey, Trini” the girl says softly. “Can I talk to you?” she asks and Trini nods before she follows the girl out of the room and down the hall.

“Where’d you think they went?” Jason asks.

“Well they went left, which is where the crew’s chambers are, so if I’m guessing correctly, they’re going to her room” Zack says.

Kimberly doesn’t say anything at that. Just sighs quietly to herself before finishing off her drink and standing up. 

“I think I’m gonna head to bed. Goodnight, guys” she says.

“Already? It’s not _that_ late” Jason says.

“I’m getting a bit tired” she says and she notices Zack studying her curiously as if he’s slowly figuring something out.

“Okay then. Goodnight Kim” Jason says followed by another goodnight from Billy and Zack before she leaves.

The hallway is cold and dark as she makes her way back to her room and she almost trips as the ship rocks a bit from the storm outside. She finally gets to her room and changes into her pajamas before getting under her sheets to get warm. Besides the strong rain hitting her window and the occasional rumbles or thunder after the lightning, it’s quiet.

She tries to fall asleep, but her mind just keeps racing to one thought continuously. And that’s Trini. Trini and her new… friend or girlfriend, whatever she is. Someone that’ll probably end up being important to Trini, someone that she’ll care for. Kimberly looks over to the empty bed across from hers and sighs.

Her thoughts are interrupted when Trini suddenly walks into the room with a heavy sigh before she plops down on her bed. She’s holding her jacket this time. The one that the girl was wearing.

Kimberly sits up hesitantly and turns to the other girl.

“So, what happened?” she asks and Trini stays silent for a bit.

“Nothing really. She was nice and everything but it wasn't working out. She was way more into me than I was of her” she sighs again and Kimberly wants to feel bad but she also feels relief for some reason.

“You wanna talk about it?” she asks.

“Not tonight” Trini mutters as she turns over onto her back.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a longer chapter this time but I've got the next chapter mostly ready to post soon and things are gonna get a bit more intense


	3. Chapter 3

They’re about a day away from their destination now. Everyone’s a bit antsy, either from excitement or just from being nervous. For Kimberly, it’s both. Trini seems to be the only one who’s still pretty calm about it. She and Zack have been spending most of their time in the cargo bay getting their weapons ready to leave the ship. The rest of them have just been waiting around patiently waiting to get to the island.

The captain says they’ll be there by morning, maybe noon the next day and just the thought of finally being so close after so many weeks on this damn ship keeps Kimberly wide awake. It turns out that the others are also awake, so they spend their time in the crew common room as usual. Jason decided to randomly make pasta for everyone even though it’s past midnight, and Zack was even able to get a picture of him in an apron while the rest of them wait around on the couch or on the floor.

Billy’s on the floor going through some of Kimberly’s research - he’s so compelled by this crystal and its history -  Zack’s next to him eating junk food, again, and Kimberly is lying down on the couch with her feet rested on Trini’s lap.

Things have been slightly tense between them ever since that night with Rachel. Kimberly found out her name the day after her date with Trini from Zack. It’s not like it’s awkward, Kimberly and Trini still get along fine as they always have, but now it’s like there’s an elephant in the room that neither of them is addressing and it makes things a bit tense at times. Like there’s something unspoken that they’re both thinking about but not acknowledging. 

So Kimberly just focuses on one of her books which has some information on the crystal despite the fact that she’s read it thousands of times, because anything is better than leaving herself to her thoughts on why Trini dating someone else, bothered her.

There’s another storm outside so the lights flicker on an off a few times and Jason almost loses his balance at one point from all the rapid moving, but it’s something they’ve gotten used to after being at sea for so long. The’ve had a few stops at ports at other countries but they’d never stay any longer than they needed to.

Kimberly puts her book down the next time the lights flicker off and sighs from frustration. She feels Trini shift under her legs and notices that the other girl has dozed off.

“So no lights then?” Zack comments. Usually they’d be back on by now. Kimberly moves her legs off of Trini to stand up which wakes the other girl up. Kimberly stretches and starts walking over to Jason whose fumbling in the dark. Lightning flashes through the room’s port window and Kimberly hears the thunder rumbling as well as the heavy rain showers. It looks like a bad one.

Trini groans before she stands up and walks over to the door. “I’m going to see what’s going on” she mutters and Zack shoots up to his feet and follows her. 

Kimberly takes a seat on the couch again since it’s nailed to the floor like all the furniture on the ship- which makes sitting on it steadier than standing - now that the waves seem to be moving the ship a lot more.

Suddenly the ship moves again as if it were hit by a bigger wave and the pots and bowls from the stove and the counter fall off. Jason almost falls again but catches himself on the counter, avoiding any boiling water that might spill on him.

“What the hell?!” he says and it suddenly feels like they’re getting hit by bigger waves every few seconds. The ship sounds like it’s groaning from the strong waves hitting it and Kimberly feels herself starting to worry. This doesn't feel like a normal storm.

Zack suddenly rushes into the room, soaking wet looking worried, and a bit scared.

“Get your stuff” he says in a serious tone that Kimberly's not used to hearing from him.

“Wh-What?” Kimberly trembles.

“Get your stuff. Only essentials. It’s looking bad out there. The ship’s engine’s blew and the power went out.”

“Are we abandoning ship?” Billy asks panicked. 

Zack hesitates before answering. “We might have to. Now get your stuff and meet me on the main deck!” he says before rushing down the hall again. The three of them run to their rooms and packing things that are absolutely necessary.

Kimberly grabs some of her own clothes, some of Trini's just in case, books and her research and shoves it all in her large backpack. She gives the bedroom one last scan before she leaves to see if she forgot anything and her eyes spot Trini’s dark green jacket lying on her bed. The one she let Kimberly wear that night. Kimberly grabs the jacket, grips it in her hand as she starts running down the hall and to the stairs before shoving it into her backpack with everything else. The red emergency lights are now flashing - as well as the alarms - and Kimberly struggles getting down the hall as the ship keeps tipping.

She gets to the main deck and sees crew members panicking and running around trying get themselves to safety. Some of them have started putting on lifejackets and getting life rafts ready.

She sees Trini getting a life raft ready with Billy and Jason beside her as she throws two lifejackets at them. She can’t make out what she’s saying but she’s yelling out orders for them to hear over the loud storm. She turns and sees Kimberly and grabs another lifejacket before running over to her, her eyes squinting as the strong rain hits her face.

“Put this on!” she yells, her voice being the only other thing Kimberly can hear besides the storm and the crashing waves. “We might have to get on a raft, so be ready!” she says before looking around. “Where’s Zack?”

“I don’t know, he might still be in his room” Kimberly says and her voice is shaking now as she looks around with wide eyes in fear. Trini grips her hand softly.

“Kim, look at me. It’s gonna be okay. Go over to Billy and Jason, I’ll find Zack” she says and rushes off before Kimberly can respond. 

Kimberly is too shocked to move and she stands there watching Trini leave until the boat rocks again and she almost falls. She takes a deep breath and runs over to Billy and Jason who are still fumbling with the rope thats attached to the compressed life raft capsule. 

Billy is finally able to release the capsule and it falls into the water with a rope holding it onto the ship. 

Another tall wave hits the ship, spilling onto the deck and knocking them all to the floor, and the next thing Kimberly hears is a loud grinding sound from the bottom of the ship, as if something is tearing into the bottom hull. Another wave, or something else, hits the side of the ship again and it tips again, this time even more than before, and Kimberly thinks it might even flip over.

Then something else hits them from underneath again and Kimberly hears another loud sickening snap of metal. Before she knows it, she starts sliding down as if the front part of the ship she’s on is tilting into the air. 

She feels Jason grab her wrist as he holds onto the railing next to him as the middle of the ship starts folding in on itself as if it were snapped in half down the middle.

She looks around again, seeing crew members holding on for their lives, some of them falling into the water as the ship starts sinking. She's sees some fall down to the center part of the ship, being dragged down into the water by the whirlpool.

Kimberly then sees Zack and Trini holding onto the railing a bit lower than them, closer to the middle of the ship since they most likely just exited the doorway which leads to the lower levels. She calls out to Trini but she can’t hear her over the storm.

“Kim!” Jason screams. “We have to jump off the side! The raft is inflated now!” he yells. 

“But what about Trini and Zack?!” she asks.

“There’s more rafts down there! We can’t reach them so they’ll have to jump too!” he yells back.

“Trini!” Kimberly tries again and this time she might have just heard her because she looks up at her. Kimberly doesn't see the usual snarky or fearless look in her eyes though. She sees fear. “Jason I need to get to them!”

“Kim we can’t reach them now! If you try to go down there you’ll fall and there's a whirlpool down there!” Jason says.

“Jason! We need to get to the raft before the ship sinks or the whirlpool will drag us down with it!” Billy yells as he pulls himself over the railing and reaches out to pull Jason up.

“Kim, come on!” Jason yells and Kimberly looks down to see Trini yell something at her and waving her hand, and she can make out Trini yelling ‘go.’ Before she can respond or even respond, she feels Jason yank her up to the railing. The three of them struggle to pull themselves over it. Before they jump she hears Zack yelling and she looks back down to see Trini sliding down as her grip on the railing was weakened by another strong wave that hit that part of the deck.

Before she can scream, Trini goes off the side right off the edge of the split-down middle of the ship, right into the whirlpool, and Kimberly freezes. Time feels like it slows down as she watches Zack screaming Trini’s name and she prepares herself to go down there and find Trini herself, but she feels Jason’s grip on her arm tighten. He gives her a sympathetic look and tells her once more that they need to jump.

She feels a sob trying to escape her throat but she blinks and swallows hard before she nods and jumps off with Jason and Billy. 

The water is cold when she hits it and the waves jerk her around a bit before her life jacket brings her up to the surface. She looks around frantically and the large waves block her view from seeing anyone until she sees the large orange life raft. Billy and Jason are already on it and they’re calling out to her. She swims over and they both pull her into the raft. In the distance she can make out a few more orange rafts floating around, being pushed around by waves and she prays that Trini’s alive on one of them with Zack.

———————————

After the storm ended and their raft started drifting in the calmer sea, they decided to try sleeping for a while now that they were safe from the storm.

Jason and Billy are fast asleep now, but Kimberly can’t. There’s too many thoughts racing through her mind keeping her awake. Like the fact that Trini and Zack might be dead and the fact that they’re floating on a life raft with limited supplies in the middle of the ocean.

So yeah, they’re not doing too great. Someone finally trusted her and gave her the resources to find this damn crystal and the only thing she’s really done is put everyone that was helping her in danger.

Eventually she’s able to finally fall asleep from exhaustion. 

Her nightmares include her drowning and a repetition of Trini falling off the edge of the ship as she screams out to her.

So when Jason frantically tries to get her to wake up she isn’t disappointed by it, no matter how tired she feels.

“What’s wrong?” she asks.

“There’s land ahead!” he says excitedly as he grabs one of the raft’s paddles and starts paddling them towards it. Kimberly sits up and sees the island in the distance. Billy grabs the other paddle and starts helping Jason.

Eventually they get close enough for Jason to jump in the shallow water and pull the raft the rest of the way. Kimberly jumps out of the raft with him and rushes to get out of the water. When she reaches the shore she lies down in the sand and sighs in relief. Jason and Billy lie down next to her as they lie down in the morning sun, finally able to relax. 

“Where are we?” Kimberly asks suddenly and Billy looks back to take in the sight behind them. There’s a forest right behind the beach and there’s a large mountain on the other end of the island. 

“This might be it” he says with a smile and Kimberly sits up to look at him.

“You mean-”

“Yeah. This might be the island where the crystal is. We weren’t close to any other islands on the map so… this might be it.”

“At least there’s _some_ good news” Jason says.

The three of them lie there for a bit before they start collecting supplies from the raft and putting them into the backpacks they got from their rooms before they left the ship.

“So the crystal’s definitely somewhere on this island” Jason points out.

“Yeah” Kimberly adds. “But we won’t go looking for it yet. Let’s- wait and see if more survivors show up” she says and she feels Billy and Jason’s gazes fixed on her as if they know she might break at any time because they all know what - _who_ \- she’s thinking about.

They spend the next few hours collecting as much stuff as they can like firewood or fruit or water from a stream more inland in the jungle and anything that washes onshore from the ship. Unfortunately none of that includes Trini or Zack or any of the crew members.

———————————

By noon they’ve collected enough firewood and enough fruit and water for a couple of days. After that there isn’t much to do so Kimberly sits on the sand near the shoreline and stares out into the distance. Jason and Billy are behind her, sitting under a tree right where the jungle meets the sand.

She pulls her knees up to her chest and rests her chin on her knees as she sighs, her fingers absentmindedly tracing circles in the sand. Not knowing what happened to the others is the worst part about it all. She exhales again as she lies back down on the sand and closes her eyes, taking in the sun.

After a while, her skin starts feeling warmer from the strong sun and she stands up about to join the boys under the trees for some shade. As she stands up, she looks over the horizon one more time and sees something in the distance. Something orange.

“It’s a raft!” she yells as she looks back at the others. “Guys! There’s a life raft out there!” It’s not too far out and it’s at a distance she can definitely swim to. She runs into the water and starts swimming.

“Kim, wait!” Jason yells.

“They might need help!” Kimberly calls out as she continues to swim. She hears another splash and sees Jason swimming in after her but she doesn't stop to wait for him.

She eventually gets close enough to the large orange raft to see that there isn’t anyone sitting up in it, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be lying down. 

“Hello!” she calls out as she swims closer but there’s no answer. 

Kimberly finally swims up to the raft and pulls herself up. When she looks inside she sees Zack lying inside.

“Zack!” she says.

Zack’s eyes open and he sits up abruptly before covering his eyes from the sun.

“Kimberly?” he asks, confused. Jason swims up and climbs up the other side of the raft, panting as he gets in. 

“Dude, you’re alive!” Jason says before helping Zack sit up. 

“Yeah, just a bit dehydrated. Some of the crew members from another raft got to the supply kit in this one before I found it.” Kimberly then climbs into the raft with them and Jason starts paddling them back to shore.

“Is anyone else with you guys?” Zack asks and Kimberly bites her lip and looks away.

“Just Billy” Jason says and Kimberly can see the frown forming on Zack’s face. She sees the same dread and sorrow that she feels. Zack just nods and stays silent until they get back to shore.

“It’s good to see you B” Zack says as Billy smiles at him when they get to shore. “Ah, land” he sighs in relief as he lies down on the sand. “I’m so tired of being on a rocking boat. Or raft.”

“Trust me, we know the feeling” Jason chuckles. He then goes up to their supplies and grabs some water and a protein bar from the supply kit before passing them to Zack.

Zack drinks the entire bottle and Jason tosses him another one.

“Is there enough for all of us?” Zack asks worriedly.

“Yeah, we found a stream a bit more inland. Don’t worry about it” Billy says.

“Shouldn’t we be seeing more rafts about now?” Kimberly asks. “We’ve been here since this morning.”

“They _could_ be washed up on shore somewhere else on the island” Billy offers.

“Or the storm got to them first” Zack adds. “I saw one raft flip over during the storm and I didn’t see anyone climb back up after that.”

“How many rafts were out there?” Jason asks. Zack thinks a bit.

“I have no idea, I only saw a few of them. I saw the captain on one of them too. But after the storm I didn’t see anyone else” Zack frowns.

“We should check the island then” Kimberly says. “Others might be here on another beach too, like Billy said.”

“We should get our bearings first, collect some more supplies and then we can start a search” Jason explains.

“But what if someone needs help?! We can’t just waste time!” Kimberly says. 

“We’re not wasting time Kim we- we _just_ found Zack and we _just_ got here this morning. We need to rest. We barely slept last night.”

“But Jason what if-”

“Kim” Zack says softly with a knowing look on his face. “I saw her fall into the water. She wasn’t wearing a life vest and I looked for her. She didn’t come back up” he says with a frown.

“We don’t know that!” Kimberly says as she tries to hold back her sobs. “She could be-”

“Kimberly” Jason says. “Please, just rest first.”

“I don’t need anymore rest” she says as she walks over to the supplies and grabs a couple of water bottles and binoculars. “I’m gonna be on lookout” she says as she gestures over to the cliff on the right side of the beach. “Yell if you need anything” she mutters as she storms off, and they let her go without another word.

She climbs up the cliff and eventually sits at the top, staring out at the horizon as she did before. 

Billy eventually joins her with some fruit and snacks as well as providing his company. He leaves after a while when Jason tells him they’re gonna search the island a bit. Kimberly offers to go but the others tell her to stay behind and rest with Zack, who joins her on the cliffs under a few trees for some shade.

“You really think she’s out there?” Zack asks after a few minutes of silence.

“If there’s one I learned about Trini, it's that she’s too stubborn to let something like drowning to get in her way of a mission” she chuckles and Zack laughs.

“You’re right” he smiles.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a longer chapter but enjoy!

When they wake up the next morning, Kimberly notices that there’s a few more things drifting on shore and near the island from the ship.

“Okay, like yesterday then,” Jason says, “Billy and I will search the island again and Kim and Zack can stay behind as lookouts. Or collect anything useful that’s drifting from the ship.”

“So Kim and I are doing all the handwork, so _you_ an spend more time with Billy?” Zack teases with a grin.

“What? No- I- You’re more than welcome to search the island instead-” Jason stutters.

“Relax bossman, I’m just kidding. Besides, I rather be on scavenger duty than walking around that damn jungle all day” Zack adds.

“Yeah, me too” Kimberly says.

“Okay. Well, Billy and I will be back in a few hours. By sunset at the latest” Jason explains before he picks up his bag and follows Billy, who’s already got his stuff, into the jungle.

Kimberly starts making her way towards the cliffs but stops when she hears an exaggerated gasp from Zack.

“Kimberly! You’re just gonna leave me here to scavenge shit alone?!” he teases.

“I’m just gonna check the other side of the cliffs. There’s a rocky shore that I saw when I was up there yesterday. There was stuff drifting around there too, so I’ll be right back” Kimberly says as she starts climbing the cliff rocks. 

She gets to the top and takes a minute to take the view in again. The sea is wavy and not as calm as it was yesterday afternoon when they arrived, but the sky is clear. The island itself is also as breathtaking as it was yesterday with its thick green foliage covering almost every inch and the peaceful silence with the occasional animal sound.

She hears Zack whistling on the beach as she starts walking across the cliffs. The waves are crashing against the cliffside and she can smell the salt in the air.

When Kimberly finally gets to her destination and looks down to the small shore in the large gap between two rocky cliffs, she sees more than expected. 

There’s things drifting from the ship but there’s also another raft. It must’ve drifted there overnight. But this raft is caught on one of the sharp rocks in the water and is torn apart. She looks around to see if anyone had washed up with the raft and she spots a figure on the small rocky shore, the waves pushing the figure further up onto the shore.

Kimberly rushes down the cliff and starts running towards the unconscious figure, her heart racing as she thinks of who it may be.

Hey! Are you okay?” she says as she rushes over and she freezes when she gets close enough to make out who the figure might be. 

She slowly kneels down beside them, noticing the long hair, and hesitantly reaches for their shoulder before turning them around onto their back.

And it’s Trini. It’s really Trini, and Kimberly almost cries right there. 

“T-Trini?” she mutters but the other girl doesn't respond. She checks for a pulse and lets out a sigh of relief when she feels one. Then she leans down listens for breathing but doesn’t hear or feel anything against her cheek. Then she starts to panic.

“Trini! Come on, wake up!” she says as she tries to wake the other girl up. “Zack!” she yells as the panic continues to take over. Then she takes another deep breath and tries to remember what she learned about CPR when she was a lifeguard back in high school. There’s a pulse so compressions aren’t necessary but she isn’t breathing so she needs to get her to breath again.

She shudders before she leans tilts Trini's head back and places her mouth on Trini’s as she tries to get her to start breathing. She pauses every few seconds after each breath and looks up at the other girl.

“Come on, Trin” she mutters as she continues the rescue breathing.

After a few more breaths she feels Trini jerk underneath her. She pulls back quickly and Trini turns to her side to cough up seawater. Kimberly soothingly rubs her back as she gasps and pants, trying to get her breathing at a normal pace again.

“Trini” Kimberly says relieved when Trini looks up at her.

“K-Kimberly? What-” but before she can finish her sentence Kimberly lets her relief and her emotions get the best of her as she pulls Trini close to her and hugs her tightly. When she realizes that she's been holding on longer than necessary, she pulls back abruptly.

“Uhm sorry. I didn’t- I thought you were-” and she can feel herself blushing but Trini seems too dazed to notice. “We’ll talk about it later. Right now we need to get you water” Kimberly says as she helps Trini to her feet and helps her up the cliffs and back to the campsite. 

“Zack!” Kimberly calls out when she’s close enough to the campsite but he’s nowhere in sight.

She feels Trini sagging on her side from where she’s holding her up and she’s muttering something under her breath which Kimberly can’t make out. “It’s okay Trin, I’ve got you. Just a few more steps” she says softly. “Zack!” she calls out again and Zack suddenly appears, walking out of the jungle and back to beach.

“What hap- Oh my god!” he says when he sees the two girls. “T!” he says, sounding relieved as he runs over to them. He stands on Trini’s other side and wraps her arm around his shoulders like Kim as he helps her carry the shorter girl to the campsite. 

They lie Trini down under one of the trees in the shade and Zack grabs a few bottles of water for her.

“She’s dehydrated” Kimberly says. She moves Trini’s wet hair out of her face as she runs her fingers down her cheek and mutters her name softly to wake her up again.

“Trini, you need water” Kimberly says soflty. Trini’s eyes eventually open weakly and she sits up as much as she can with Kimberly’s hand behind her head to keep her up as she drinks from one of the bottles that Zack handed her. “Slowly” Kimberly says. “You might feel sick if you drink too fast.” 

Trini nods as she takes a few sips of water and pulls the bottle away for a while. She rubs her temples and says something about a headache. Kimberly starts running soothing circles on her back again as Trini drinks some more water.

“Damn, you really scared us there, T” Zack smiles as he squats down in front of Trini and hands her a second bottle when she eventually finishes off the first. She lifts the bottle up to her lips and Kimberly has to grab her wrist at one point to remind her to stop drinking too fast.

“All I know is, I’m never doing any of that again” Trini chuckles lightly and Kimberly starts to see how exhausted she is.

“What happened? After you fell, I mean” Kimberly asks.

“I got dragged underwater. I eventually got back to the surface and found an empty raft. Someone else probably emptied out the supply kit but there was a bottle of water stuck at the bottom that they missed” she says as she takes another sip and Kimberly gives her a knowing glare to remind her, again, to slow down with her drinking. “And that’s how I didn't die while drifting aimlessly for almost two days at sea” she says in a faux-cheerful manner.

She drinks some more water and lies back down in Kimberly’s lap before closing her eyes. Kimberly’s taken aback and doesn’t know what do to do with herself so she leans back against the tree and lets Trini get comfortable.

“Hey, don’t fall asleep yet” Zack says. “You need to hydrate yourself a bit more” he says as he nudges Trini’s leg. Trini just groans and turns over on her side so her back is facing Zack. She dozes off again and Zack places the back of his palm on Trini’s forehead at one point and makes a comment on how hot she still feels, so he grabs a shirt from his bag and pours some fresh water on it before handing it to Kimberly who then pats and lightly rubs the wet cloth on Trini’s face to cool her off some more.

Zack sighs as he stands up. “I’m gonna go find some more fruits for her to eat. Keep her awake” he says as he makes his way back into the jungle.

“Trin, come on, you can’t sleep yet” Kimberly says as she runs her fingers through Trini’s hair. Trini just mumbles incoherently again as she draws her knees up so she’s lying in an almost fetal position. She smiles a bit as Kimberly continues running her fingers through her hair so Kimberly halts her movements and Trini looks up at her expectantly, waiting for her to continue. “Nope. Now I know that it relaxes you, I'm not touching your hair until you get up” Kimberly says with a slight smirk. Trini groans and glares at Kimberly. 

“So what even is this place?” Trini asks.

“What we’ve been looking for” Kimberly says and Trini’s eyebrows raise. 

“The crystal’s here?” she asks, surprised. Kimberly nods and can’t help but smile.

“Somewhere around here, yeah. Billy and I kinda talked about it and we think it could be at the center of the island but it could also be in a lake or-” Kimberly stops when she looks down again and sees that Trini fell asleep again during her babbling. This time she makes no effort to wake her up as she starts running her fingers through Trini’s damp hair again, with a smile on her face. She looks so quiet and peaceful and it contrasts her rough exterior so much that Kimberly feels her heart melt. 

Zack eventually returns and goes into full-mom-mode and wakes Trini up to get her to eat something and hydrate more.

After doing so, Trini falls asleep again a while later, mumbling incoherently every so often and tossing and turning and Kimberly refuses to take her gaze off her.

After a while she looks up at Zack to tell him that Trini’s starting to cool down, but stops herself when she sees the look on his face. He looks worried, even a bit scared after almost losing his closest friend. She thinks she sees his eyes starting to well up but says nothing.

She just reaches over Trini and softly grabs Zack’s hand before squeezing it reassuringly. She smiles at him and he wipes at his eyes when he smiles back before he walks up to the coast line and sits in the sand right in front of the water, looking out ahead of him. 

————————————— 

It starts getting dark out and Billy and Jason still haven't returned. Trini is asleep beside Kimberly and she seems a little more at ease now than she was earlier.

“I should go out and look for them” Zack says as he looks out into the jungle.

“You can’t go alone Zack. And one of us has to stay here with Trini” Kimberly explains.

“They never stay out after sundown” he says worriedly.

“I know, but there’s nothing we can do right now. I’m not letting you go into the jungle at night alone” she warns.

“Fine, but if they’re not back tonight, then I’m going in tomorrow morning” Zack says as he takes a seat next to Trini.

“Okay” Kimberly sighs.

It gets later and later, and the two boys still haven't returned. Kimberly feels the worry start to settle in and she tries to convince herself that the best option is staying on the beach until morning. 

She and Zack cook some fish to eat before they eventually decide to go to sleep. Zack takes his usual spot leaning against a tree and Kimberly lies beside Trini who’s been asleep for hours now.

It takes her a while to sleep since she’s still getting used to sleeping on the ground and since her mind keeps racing to thoughts that keep her awake. 

And even when she eventually falls asleep, she’s woken up by a hand suddenly covering her mouth. She opens her eyes and sees that it’s still dark out, like it’s almost dawn, and she grabs the wrist above her as she starts to panic. 

When she turns her head to see whose hand it is, she sees Trini holding her finger up to her own mouth as a signal for Kimberly to keep quiet. Trini slowly removes her hand from Kimberly's lips and looks intently into the jungle.

“Trini?” Kimberly asks hoarsely as she rubs the sleep out of her eyes.

“There’s somethings out there” Trini whispers back as her gaze remains on the trees ahead.

Kimberly looks to the jungle and doesn’t see or hear anything out of the ordinary.

“Trin, you’re probably hallucinating. You were dehydrated, remember? Go back to sleep” Kimberly says as she turns to lie back down but Trini grabs her wrist and finally looks at her.

“Kim, we need to move” Trini says and Kimberly sees the seriousness in her eyes and realizes that Trini’s really worried now. Maybe even scared.

“Okay” Kimberly whispers as she crouches beside Trini. “Where’s Zack?” Kimberly says as she sees Zack’s usual sleep area vacant.

Trini’s grip on her wrist hasn’t loosened and Kimberly feels her pulling her back on the beach, away from the trees.

“What is it?” Kimberly asks, the fear starting to settle in.

“I don’t know. I heard it though. Whatever - or whoever - it is, is hiding nearby. Do we have any weapons?”

“Just a knife in one of the bags” Kimberly says as she points at one of the backpacks near the tree-line. Trini slowly moves towards the bag and they suddenly hear loud shuffling in the jungle. Trini quickly grabs the backpack and finds the knife as she makes her way back to Kimberly’s side.

Kimberly grips onto the other girl’s arm as they prepare themselves for a threat and suddenly a flare goes off on the cliffs to their left. They turn to see someone standing on the cliffs with a flare gun raised and the next thing they know, masked men are rushing out of the jungle with guns raised at them along with flashlights.

“Don’t move!” one of the men yells as he walks up to the girls. Kimberly can only see their eyes through the holes in the ski mask and they look angry. “Put the knife down!” the man yells and Trini glares at him before dropping the knife into the sand. “Get on your knees and put your hands up” he says and as soon as they do, two other men run over to them and tie their hands in front of them with some tough rope that digs into the skin.

They pull the two girls up to their feet and push them into the jungle as they start walking with them. They bring Zack, who’s also tied up, to walk beside them.

“Crazy girl, you’re awake again” he says joyfully as if they’re not tied up and being forced to walk through the jungle at gunpoint. “I should’ve known that a bit of action would be what wakes you up” he jokes. 

“ _Obviously_ ” Trini smiles back at him. “Any idea who these guys are? And why they’re wearing ski masks on a deserted island?”

“No talking!” one of the men yells and Trini rolls her eyes which makes Kim chuckle. When Trini notices she smiles back at the other girl.

“So you gave me mouth-to-mouth huh?” she teases and wiggles her eyebrows, and Kimberly can feel the heat rising to her cheeks. At least Trini’s back to her usual teasing self now.

“Well yeah. _Someone_ had to save your ass” she jokes back, trying to cover up how flustered she is.

“Well thanks for the save, princess” she says with a wink.

“I said, no talking!” the man says again and they decide to stay quiet this time, mostly to get him to stop yelling.

—————————————

They finally arrive at their destination long after the sun had started rising. They exit the jungle onto a large open grass field with tents set up everywhere and people walking around. People that Kimberly recognizes. Crew members from their ship. 

Their captors start taking off their ski masks, revealing that they’re also crew members.

“What the _hell?”_ Trini asks angrily as she walks up to one of the men as if she’s about to attack him. That’s probably why they were wearing masks until they returned to their base.

The man just raises his gun at her and she clenches her jaw angrily as she steps back.

Suddenly, the ship’s captain steps out of one of the tents to see them. Now Kimberly feels herself getting angry and she starts making her way over to him angrily but is stopped by one of the men hitting her across the face with the butt of his riffle, knocking her to the ground. 

She tastes blood when she pokes a newly-formed cut on the inside of her cheek with her tongue. Then she feels someone helping her up to her feet and looks up to see Trini looking at her worriedly.

“Lock ’em up with the others” Captain Adams says before retreating back to his tent. The men beside them start leading them to the other side of the camp and into the jungle again. 

There’s a guard standing there with his own rifle and a few large bamboo cages. Jason and Billy are in one of them and they sit up excitedly when they see the others.

They push the three of them into the cage next to Billy and Jason’s and lock them up before walking back to camp, leaving only one guard with them.

“At least they didn’t put theses cages out in the sun” Trini says as she stands up and analyzes the cage.

“It’s good to see you, Trini” Jason says, sounding a bit exhausted. He looks relieved but he also looks like he hasn't slept all night.

“Yeah, we’re glad you’re alive” Billy says and he sounds equally as tired.

“Thanks guys. It’s good to see you too” Trini smiles before she starts testing the cage’s strength. Unfortunately for them, it’s a pretty sturdy cage.

“How’d they get you guys?” Kimberly asks.

“We got near their camp and they spotted us” Jason says. “They caught us before we could realize what was happening. And then they kept us up all night asking if we were alone or not. I don’t know why, since they didn’t believe anything we said anyway. What about you guys?”

“They snuck up on us on the beach” Zack explains. “Did they happen to feed you guys anything? Because I’m starving” he groans.

“Not yet” Billy adds.

“Oh _man”_ Zack whines. “Hey dude! Can you guys get us some food and water?” he yells to the guard. “You guys haven't killed us which means you need us alive, so unless you want us starving to death…” he drags on. The guard grumbles something which they can’t hear before saying something into his walkie-talkie.

Zack looks pleased with himself as he lies down with his hands behind his head and waits.

A while later another man shows up with a backpack and starts giving out water bottles and bread.

“Better than nothing, I guess” Zack grumbles as he takes a bite into his bread roll.

Kimberly suddenly sees Trini making her way over to Kim's corner of the cage with two bottles of water in her hands before she takes a seat beside her.

“How you holding up, princess?” she asks softly. 

“Okay, given the circumstances” she sighs and she turns to see Trini’s gaze fixed on her. “What?” she asks. Trini doesn’t answer, just stares at her intently before she reaches up and cups Kimberly’s face as she starts tracing her thumb on Kimberly’s sore cheek softly.

"It's swelling. I think the bruise is already forming too” she says before she pulls her hand away and Kimberly is surprised by how much she misses its warmth already. “Makes you look like a badass though” Trini smiles.

“Are you saying that I don’t normally look like a badass?” Kimberly grins.

“Well” she drawls out teasingly and Kimberly gives her a playful slap on the shoulder.

“After everything we’ve been through so far, you’ve _definitely_ earned the badass title” Trini adds with a smile. It’s not the teasing kind of grin like before, it’s more soft and sincere, and Kimberly can’t help but smile back as she tries to hide the reddening of her cheeks.

“Hey, T” Zack suddenly whispers. “We got a plan yet?”

“Not yet. We’re definitely not breaking our way out of these cages without some kind of weapon.”

“Good luck with that” Jason says. “No one even comes near these cages unless they’re putting someone in or if they’re gonna give us water.”

“We’ll get an opportunity eventually” Trini says.

Moments later, two more men show up and make their way over to the cages. One of them aims his gun at Billy and Jason, another at the rest of them and the other opens the cage door, aiming his gun at Kimberly.

“Let’s go” he says.

“Me?” Kimberly asks.

“Yeah, you. You’re the archeologist aren't you?” and before Kimberly can even think of answering, the man grabs her by the arm and pulls her out of the cage.

“Let go of her!” Trini says and he turns his gun at her with a glare, so she backs down hesitantly.

“I’d be careful if I were you. As of now, the rest of you are expendable” he says and one of the other men closes the cage door behind him as he takes Kimberly to the main camp.

Kimberly stays silent as she’s practically dragged by the arm through the camp, as every person they pass stares at her.

The man, who Kimberly recognizes as one of the chefs from the ships, takes her into one of the larger tents at the center of the base and pushes her to the ground, keeping his gun aimed at her head even when she’s on her knees. Another man ties her wrists in front of her again.

The ship’s captain is sitting in a chair behind the table in front of her with his feet rested up on the table and a large combat knife in his hands. Kim notices he’s wearing combat boots and his captain’s outfit is gone, now replaced with combat pants and a tank top. Similar to what the rest of the crew members are now wearing. He places it on the table before he stands up and makes his way around the table and crouches down in front of Kimberly.

“I’m just gonna get straight to the point” he says menacingly. “You’re gonna tell me where the crystal is, or I’m gonna kill all your friends.”

“I don’t know where it is” she glares at the man. He punches her across the face, on the same side where she was hit earlier and it hurts twice as much.

“Don’t play games with me, girl. I will _not_ hesitate to kill them. I’ve already had a few crew members killed. The ones who weren’t _my_ crew members” he explains.

“We haven't had time to find the exact coordinates yet” Kimberly says through gritted teeth. “And didn’t Zordon hire you guys to _help_ us find the crystal instead of keeping us captive?”

“There was a change of plans. Another employer offered double of what Zordon was offering. So _my_ crew members - the ones I go way back with from the navy, and the ones who have been on my crew since I first started out - _they_ stayed loyal enough to help me. I’ve got a few more friends on another ship who have been following our coordinates since we left and they should be showing up any day this week to pick us up. So I need to find that crystal as soon as possible, and you have no choice but to tell me where it is” he explains before he picks up the knife and crouches down in front of Kimberly.

“Where’d you get all this stuff then?” Kimberly asks a bit defiantly as she looks around the tent and its tables and chairs.

“Believe it or not, it was all here when we arrived. We salvaged as much as we could from the ship, but _this_ ” he gestures around with the knife, “this was all from the last crew that was here looking for this crystal. Poor suckers must’ve died trying” he says as he brings the knife up to Kimberly’s shoulder and digs in just a little bit, not enough to cut, but enough to dig into the skin as a threat.

“This would be so much easier if you just cooperated” he says and Kimberly yelps as he makes a quick slash on her shoulder, enough to make it bleed.

“I already told you; I _don’t_ know” she says and he responds with another lash on her forearm. Her next yell is muffled through her tightened lips as she tries to keep herself together. The next cut is right above the other one on her forearm, right before he brings the knife up to her face. 

“We don’t wanna damage that pretty face now, do we?” he says as he presses the knife to her cheek, just enough to draw blood. “Do any of the others know where the crystal is?” 

“No. I’m the only one who really knows about it. They don’t know anything."

“Oh really now?” the captain says in disbelief. “I think we should bring some of ‘em in here and see what they have to say about all this. Maybe we’ll start with the mercenary girl who you seem so fond of, huh? Maybe _that’ll_ get you talking.”

“No! Please, they don’t know anything. Just give us some time to figure out where it is” she pleads frantically and the captain seems like he’s thinking it over.

“We’ll see what we can do about that then” he says as he tosses some gauze and a plastic bottle of rubbing alcohol to one of the guards. “Get her back in the cage for now. Give her that to clean her wounds. We don’t want any of them getting any infections before we can find that damn crystal” he says and the guard replies with a grunt before he pulls Kimberly to her feet and drags her back to the cages. 

He greets the other guard as he opens the cage door and pushes Kimberly in before shutting it behind her. Trini rushes over to her and unties the tough rope from around her wrists. Kimberly rubs her wrists soothingly as soon as the rope comes off and the guard places the gauze and rubbing alcohol inside the cage before leaving.

“You okay?” Trini asks worriedly. 

“Yeah, just a few cuts and bruises” she jokes but the smile quickly fades from her face.

“What did they want?” Jason asks.

“They want the crystal” Kimberly sighs. “I bought us some time and told them we could find out where it is for them” Trini doesn’t seem to be listening as much as the others as she pours some of the alcohol on the gauze and starts cleaning Kimberly’s cuts.

Kimberly winces at the burning sensation and Trini gives her a sympathetic look as she starts working a bit more cautiously with a lighter touch.

“The captain went rogue. He’s working for another buyer and most of the crew followed him. He killed the rest that didn’t” Kimberly frowns.

“Fuck” Zack says under his breath as he runs his hand through his hair.

“We can’t let them get off this island with that crystal” Kimberly whispers and looks back to the guard, whose back is turned to them, and he looks as oblivious as ever.

“We gotta find a way out of _here_ first” Trini says without looking up from Kimberly’s arm as she starts cleaning one of the other cuts.

“I think they might let us out soon” Kimberly says. “They need us to find the crystal’s coordinates and we can’t do it from in here. So whenever that happens, we surprise attack.”

“It’s too risky” Jason says.

“Do you have any _other_ ideas?” Kimberly asks and flinches again from the sting on her arm on the wound Trini is cleaning. 

“If we can get some of their gear, I could probably find a way to get us communicating with someone off the island” Billy adds.

“Perfect!” Kimberly says. “We just have to wait for the right opportunity.”

They all nod but Jason doesn't seem convinced. Trini just continues her task without looking up or saying anything.

Kimberly feels Trini wrapping the cuts on her arms with some roll gauze and she _feels_ her staring.

“What’s wr-” but before she can finish her sentence, Trini’s gripping her chin and turning her head towards her. 

Kimberly holds her breath and tries not to look into Trini’s eyes as she shifts nervously from how close their faces are. Trini stares at her intently before she reaches up with more gauze and starts cleaning the smaller cut on Kimberly’s cheek, just below her bruise.

“I wasn’t challenging you to become more of a badass by getting you ass beat or anything” Trini tries to joke but Kimberly can see how worried she is as she softly cleans the wound.

“You weren’t? Oh, I thought that entire conversation was basically your way of telling me to basically get tortured so I could be a badass” she jokes and smiles as she tries to ease Trini’s worries.

“I should’ve known that’s what you’d take from our conversation. You’re pretty impulsive, after all” Trini teases and she finally smiles a bit.

“ _I’m_ impulsive?” Kimberly asks surprised.

“Oh yeah. That’s pretty much one of the first things I learned about you” Trini smirks.

“She’s right” Jason says.

“I am _not_ impulsive” Kimberly says.

“You definitely are, Kimmy” Zack adds.

“Yeah” Billy says.

“Wow, thanks for the support, guys” Kimberly shakes her head.

“Stop moving” Trini says as she grips Kimberly’s chin again to get a closer look at her wound. Kimberly doesn’t think Trini needs to be that close to clean a cut on her cheek but there’s no way she’d ever complain about it. Trini wipes the wound again until it mostly stops bleeding and lets go of Kimberly’s face as she leans back in her seat against the cage’s wooden bars. “All done. Try to stop getting injured now” she jokes.

“Noted” Kimberly says as she leans back against the bars.

After what feels like an hour later, two more guards show up and open the two cage doors and aim their guns at Billy and Kimberly.

“You two; _out”_ one of the guards says and they do as instructed.

Kimberly glances back at Trini one more time reassuringly before they start making their way into the main camp base again.

 


	5. Chapter 5

The guards lead Kimberly and Billy into a large tent right on the outskirts of the camp. There’s a large table at the center of it with backpacks on it and a few chairs around it. Kimberly recognizes the bags on the table as their own from the beach.

“The captain says he wants results as soon as possible” the guard grunts. “We start killing one of your friends for every delay” the guard says as he exits the tent to stand guard outside.

Kimberly sighs before she reaches for her own backpack and starts pulling out her research. She smiles when she sees Trini’s jacket that she’d taken from their room on the ship. She puts it on before she starts sorting through her papers and books.

“I guess there’s a chance that the crystal is at the center of the island” she says. “Or at the bottom of some lake. This would’ve been so much easier if we had a map of this place” she sighs. Billy doesn't respond and she looks up at him questioningly. “Something wrong?”

Billy fidgets a bit and gulps nervously before looking up at Kimberly. 

“If we find the crystal- We’re not giving it to them, are we?” he says low enough for Kimberly’s ears only.

“Definitely not” Kimberly whispers back. “But right now we need to buy some time until we can get back to the others and get out of here.” Billy still looks nervous as if something is bothering him. “Billy? Do you know something?” she asks.

Billy looks around one more time to make sure that no one’s listening to them. “Before we left, when I had my meeting with Zordon- Well first we discussed the actual location of the island itself and Zordon said that when he tried to find it again he couldn’t and I thought the island could be moving or even concealing itself from anyone who knows where it is, and then we discussed the crew member size- because I thought we’d need larger crew to bring us here but Zordon thought that our crew was fine and-”

“Billy” she reminds him.

“Oh yeah. Okay so before we left, Zordon gave me something. He told me not to look at it or tell anyone about it until we got to the island. He was still a little paranoid about who he could trust and I guess, given the circumstances, he was right” Billy explains as he pulls out a parcel from his backpack. He unwraps it to reveal a small book. “It’s Zordon’s journal. From when he was on this island all those years ago.”

Kimberly takes the book eagerly before skimming through the pages. Zordon has drawings of the crystal and coordinates and even a rough map of the island and it’s a lot bigger than Kimberly had initially thought, with a few lakes at the center of it, a large one that runs through the island that connects to the sea on each side, cliffs and mountains in a few areas, but the island is mostly covered with the jungle.

Kimberly and Billy start going through Zordon’s notes together, cross checking any information they can with Kimberly’s research and hiding the journal every time they hear someone walking outside the tent in fear of getting caught.

The captain even checks on them at one point and they keep up the facade of not having any information yet. Which is partially true because Zordon refuses to share the crystal’s location in his journal. But what he does share is something about a woman named Rita. That particular page catches Kimberly’s attention almost immediately, with a drawing of some sort of golden staff.

“Who’s Rita?” she mutters at one point but Billy hears her.

“She was on Zordon’s expedition team when he was looking for the crystal” he says. “There were six of them here” he says as he continues reading ahead of Kimberly on the next page. Kimberly stops reading to listen to Billy. “It says here that Rita was possessed by something on the island here and she-”

“She what?” Kimberly asks.

“She killed all of their friends. Zordon says that she almost killed him too but he was able to use the crystal somehow to stop her. It doesn’t say anything about where she is now though.”

“So he _did_ find the crystal?” she asks excitedly.

“Yeah but-” Billy turns the page. “He says the crystal was in some kind of temple and the only way to keep it safe from Rita was to destroy the temple somehow. The temple disappeared after that so he thinks it’s probably at a different location on the island now. Also, the ship he travelled here with didn’t sink like ours because it was anchored off the coast. He and his team travelled to the island alone on a smaller boat.”

“So no one else who was on this island before - besides Zordon - made it off alive?” Kimberly asks.

“I’m afraid so” Billy says.

“Well _that’s_ reassuring” Kimberly says. “So we’re back to square one with no idea where the crystal is” she sighs as she leans back against her chair and runs her hand through her hair in frustration. “It could be _anywhere._ ”

“Wait, didn’t you have a book that said something about a temple?” Billy asks.

Kimberly thinks for a second. Before Zordon’s journal, she hadn’t thought the mention of a temple was important, but now…

Kimberly frantically starts looking through her research and her notes until she finds what she’s looking for. One of her books mentioned something about a ‘shifting temple’ and she had no idea what that meant until now.

“Here” she says as she starts flipping through the pages and finally gets to the the one she was looking for. “Some books said something about a shifting temple or a moving cave which trapped people in it. Most archeologists thought there was a translation problem with that information because a moving temple just didn’t make sense. So this must’ve been what Zordon set off to destroy the temple and stop Rita” she realizes. “It says something about the temples being able to move to the highest or lowest point of the island” she stares at the book confused as she searches for more of an explanation.

“So what does that mean?” she asks.

“The cliffs!” Billy says excitedly and Kimberly just feels more confused than ever. “The lowest point would be at the bottom of a lake which is where I think Zordon and his team first found it - because he mentions something about water - so the highest point would be on the cliffs somewhere. Or on the mountain.” Billy says as he points at Zordon’s map.

“Oh my god, you’re right” Kimberly says with a smile. “But we _can’t_ say anything until we can get the others and get out of here” she says and Billy nods.

They continue stalling for a few more hours, going through more research, taking a few short breaks when the guards bring them food or water. But then Captain Adams shows up again.

“How much progress have you made?” he says as he scratches his beard.

“Not much” Kimberly says. “We don’t have all the information that we need to find it.”

“Like what?”

“Like a map of the island for starters” she says. The captain signals at one of the guards behind him who leaves and then returns moments later with a map which he places on the table.

“That good enough for you?” the captain asks, looking unimpressed.

“Yeah but-” Kimberly starts but the captain raises his hand in front of her, signaling for her to stop talking.

“I said, no more games. Or did you forget already?” he glares at the two of them. “Your other archeologist friend out there might be useful in the future, but the mercenaries are expendable. So don’t tempt me” he says before he turns around and starts to leave. He stops at the tent’s entrance before turning to them one more time.

“I’ll be back to check on you tonight. If you don’t have anything new to tell me by then, then one of your friends dies” he says as he leaves then tent.

As soon as they’re alone again, Billy turns to Kimberly with a worried expression. 

“Kimberly, we can’t just let him-”

“I know” Kimberly sighs. “But there’s no guarantee that he keeps any of us alive if we tell him where it is. Even if we gave him a fake location” she says as she nervously grips Zordon’s journal, which is inside her inner jacket - well, Trini’s jacket - pocket.

For the next few hours they start writing stuff down to give the captain a fake location as to where the crystal is. It’s not the best or most reliable plan but it’s the only thing they can do for now. They even discuss trying to escape at night when it gets darker out but even that plan isn’t guaranteed to get them all out of this safely. 

The sun eventually goes down and it starts getting darker out. Kimberly can feel herself getting more nervous by every passing minute as she and Billy wait for the captain to return. If he doesn’t buy their fake story on the crystal’s location, then they’re all in danger.

She uses one of the three lamps in the tent to look over the map a few times, to see if there’s anything else they could be missing.

It’s unnervingly quiet outside besides the crickets chirping and the unknown animal sounds in the distance as well as a few crew members walking around and talking.

Suddenly the silence is broken as the ground rumbles and shakes as if it was hit by a pulse from something. Kimberly looks up to Billy anxiously as they hear the guards scattering and yelling outside. Kimberly hears one guard yell out for everyone to prepare themselves and keep their guard up. 

And then there’s silence again. But not silence like before, because now the crickets have stopped and the only thing she can hear is the wind lightly blowing against the tent as well as the light footsteps from the guard outside their tent. The temperature also feels like it’s dropped significantly and Kimberly feels herself shiver as a chill runs up her spine.

The next thing she hears is a loud shrilling scream in the distance. It sounded like a woman. The ground rumbles again and then someone outside screams. Guns start going off and men are screaming and yelling out orders and it sounds like complete chaos. 

Kimberly tosses one of the backpacks of supplies at Billy and grabs one of her own before she grabs the lamp from the table in front of her. She then grabs Billy by the arm and leads them to the tent’s entrance. She peaks her head out and hears guns going off in the distance in the center of the camp with no guards around their tent. So she pulls Billy outside and they run towards the prisoner cages. She almost trips on an assault rifle laying on the ground as if it were dropped by a guard so she picks it up and continues running.

Trini, Jason and Zack all look kind of terrified when Kimberly and Billy get there and Kimberly sees a guard dead in front of the cages. She gulps as she finds the key for the the lock on the cage in the guard’s pocket. She lets out a sigh of relief when she finds it and fumbles with the chain as she tries to find the lock on it. She finally finds it and drops the chain to the ground as soon as the lock is off. She unlocks Jason’s cage next as Trini and Zack move ahead to keep an eye out on the camp where the chaos is still ongoing. 

Kimberly sees Trini checking the guard’s dead body and finds a pistol and a knife which she pockets.

“We need to move before that thing comes back” Trini says.

“What thing? What was that?” Kimberly asks. 

“We’ll explain later” Zack says. “Right now, we need to get somewhere safe” he says as he starts running deeper into the jungle. The others follow suit as they make their way into the darkness.

 

—————————————

 

They eventually get far enough from the camp where the gunshots and screams sound muffled in the distance. They find a small clearing in the jungle to rest at where the surrounding darkness and trees are far enough for them to be more alert of anything that could come out and attack them.

Kimberly drops her backpack and lies down, panting, as she watches the others do the same. 

“Okay” she breathes. “Can you tell us what you saw out there now?” she looks to Trini who still looks slightly terrified.

“It was- some kind of shadow. It looked like a woman at one point but it was like she wasn’t really there. And it just got really cold all of a sudden and the next thing we knew, the guard in from of us was stabbed through the chest by the shadow thing. And then the ground started shaking and these huge rocks started forming these huge- i don't know what they were, they just looked like giant rock monsters” Trini rambles as she takes a deep breath. “I have no idea what’s going on, but this island definitely isn’t normal.”

“Yeah, we figured that out too” Kimberly says and the others, besides Billy, look at her curiously. She pulls out Zordon’s notebook and starts telling them about what she and Billy read. She gives it to Billy so he can finish reading it.

“There’s definitely something wrong with this island and it’s not just the crystal” Jason says.

“What if it’s Rita?” Billy suddenly says as he momentarily looks up from the notebook.

“Zordon’s old friend?” Trini asks. “Why would it be her?”

“Well Zordon said she was corrupted by the crystal and then possessed by something on the island. So what if that brought her back? What if she was the shadow thing?” Billy elaborates.

“Yeah but why now? Why wouldn't she just take the crystal before we got here or whatever?” Zack asks.

“I don’t know” Billy’s brows furrow. “There’s still so much we don’t know about this place” he says as he starts going through the notebook again.

“Side-note,” Trini says “Where did the captain and the crew get all that tech and all those weapons?”

“I think the captain said something about the stuff already being here from someone else who tried to find this place after Zordon.” Kim says. “Which would mean that they never made it off alive either. Oh and the weapons… Well, they got some of them from your stash on the ship.”

Trini’s eyes seem to flare up at that. “They have my guns?!”

“Had” Kimberly adds. “Who knows if they’re still alive right now.”

“Still, those were _my_ weapons.”

“ _Our_ weapons” Zack adds.

“Whatever. We’re gonna need to arm ourselves anyway” Trini says and Kimberly looks at her curiously.

“You’re not implying that we go back to that camp, are you?”

“Of course I am. They have weapons, tech and probably more food. We need to find a way to communicate with someone off the island and we need something to arm ourselves with in case that _thing_ comes back” Trini explains.

“It’s too dangerous” Kimberly says.

“If we don’t, we’ll be sitting out here in the jungle defenseless” Trini replies.

“She’s right, Kim” Jason sighs. “We’re in over our heads now and Zack and Trini were hired for this kinda stuff.”

“Fine” she sighs as she finds a spot on the damp grass to sit down. She clenches the grass in her hand and it feels wet enough as if it had been rained on.

After a while it starts to get quieter around them. The screams and gunshots heard from the camp in the distance are now silent. They wait a few more minutes just to be sure, and then Zack and Trini are on their feet getting ready to go back.

“Are we splitting up?” Jason asks. “Because if you two go back to camp with the guns then we won’t have any weapons out here.”

“He’s right” Trini says. “Okay Zack will stay here, I’ll go check out the camp.”

“Like hell you are. You’re not going back there alone” Kimberly says.

“We’ve only got two guns right now so Zack has to stay here with you guys” Trini adds.

“Then I’ll go with you” Kimberly says as she stands up.

“I don’t think so, princess” Trini scoffs. “It’s not safe.”

“It’s not safe for you to go out there alone either.”

“I’m just gonna check the place out” Trini explains but Kimberly doesn't let up.

“How about this; We _all_ go” she says and Trini pinches the bridge of her nose with a sigh.

“You’re not gonna change your mind, are you?” she says and Kimberly grins, knowing that she’s won.

“Nope.”

“Okay fine. We all go to the camp together” Trini sighs. “But until Zack and I say it’s safe, you guys stay hidden” she says as she looks at the other three who nod in agreement.

 

—————————

 

When they finally get to the camp, Zack and Trini start looking around while the others wait on the outskirts of the camp, hidden by the trees. Trini gave Kimberly the pistol before she left, showing her how to use it just in case they ran into something when she and Zack were searching the campsite.

After a few minutes they hear Zack calling out to them to come out to the camp. Kimberly looks around, seeing the aftereffects of destruction everywhere.

There’s a few small fires in certain areas, a few craters on the ground and the soldiers on the ground either dead or unconscious.

She looks ahead and sees Zack waving near one of the tents and they walk over to him.

“It’s all clear. T and I are gonna get some more weapons and ammo, you guys can get food and stuff. This tent has all the supplies and I think I saw a few small camping tents in there, so gather as much as you can” Zack says as he rushes off to join Trini.

Kimberly looks at the two boys before they make their way into the tent, grabbing the rolled up tents, some blankets, and as much food as they can. They find a few duffle bags to put everything into to make it easier to carry and then exit the tent. Trini and Zack run up to them with two duffle bags shortly after.

“We gotta go. We heard voices nearby” Trini says as she and Zack rush the others out of the camp and back into the jungle.

They all start hearing the voices as they get closer now. Kimberly thinks she can hear the captain’s voice amongst them, yelling out orders but she’s not too sure.

Eventually they pass by the area that they were resting at earlier and find a place further into the jungle where the voices become inaudible. They’re also closer to a river which is a bonus.

Kimberly, Billy and Jason start sorting through the supplies they gathered and getting the tents set up as Zack and Trini sort through the weapons and ammo they collected.

There’s only three tents, so they decide that the girl’s will take one, Jason and Zack will take the other, and Billy will take the last one.

They’re all too exhausted to do anything else, so they eat some of the canned food they found at the camp and decide to get some sleep. Trini decides to take the first watch since she slept enough the day before and doesn't feel as exhausted as the rest of them.

Kimberly decides to sit with her by the fire for a while when the others go to their tents to sleep, mostly because she’s too terrified of whatever’s out there to be able to fall asleep alone right now. But she doesn't tell Trini that.

She eyes the rifle Trini has leaning against the log she’s sitting on as Trini pokes the dirt with a long stick she’d found. She drops it at one point and they sit in silence before Trini yawns, raising her arms above her head to stretch.

“I thought you weren’t tired” Kimberly grins.

“I didn't say that” Trini smiles back. “I’m exhausted. Just not as much as the rest of you.”

“Whatever you say” Kimberly laughs in disbelief. “You look like you’re about to pass out.”

“I’m fine. Just a few more hours” Trini says as she sighs. “You should get some sleep. You’ll be tired if we wake you up for watch duty later.”

“I’m fine. I’ll wait with you.”

“Okay, how about this; You need to sleep since we’re going to go looking for your crystal tomorrow. Because if you oversleep tomorrow morning, we’ll go without you” she teases and Kimberly rolls her eyes.

“I’d never sleep through that. I’m not gonna mess up my chance again.”

“Again? So you’ve slept through something like this before?” Trini jokes.

“No” Kimberly laughs lightly. “I just… messed up the last time I had an opportunity like this.”

Trini frowns as she gives her a more sympathetic look now and waits for her to elaborate.

“A few years ago, my friend Amanda and I were working on this dig in Egypt with our old college professor. Before I got the job at the museum I work at now, I was on this archeologist team with Amanda and this guy I was seeing, Ty, working for our archeology professor after we graduated. Long story short, Ty cheated on me with Amanda and I got so pissed that I almost got Amanda fired for ‘inappropriate behavior with a coworker’ or something like that after I sent a picture of Amanda to Ty. A _private_ picture" she sighs. "And then I got kicked off the dig - deservedly so - after punching Ty’s tooth out and basically because everyone wanted nothing to do with me after what I did to Amanda, so I started working at the museum with Jason. He was able to get me a job there even though I had a reputation of not being the best or most trustworthy employee.”

Trini stays silent for a moment as she runs a hand through her hair. “That’s some high school drama right there. Harsh.”

“I know. I fucked up and I let my anger get the better of me and betrayed my friend. I apologized, obviously, but I don't really expect her to forgive me. I don't deserve forgiveness anyway.”

“We all fuck up” Trini adds and Kimberly looks at her surprised. “I mean, what you did was pretty messed up but it was years ago and you know that it’s wrong and faced the consequences.”

“It still doesn't fix what I did” Kimberly says as she wipes the tears now forming in her eyes.

“Nothing will. So all you can do is make up for it in any way that you can” Trini says and Kimberly takes a shaky breath as she nods. “Go get some rest, Kim” Trini says softly and Kimberly gets up with a soft ‘goodnight’ before walking across their small camp and getting into the tent and lying down. It takes her a while but she’s finally able to sleep.

 

She’s woken up by Trini getting into the tent at one point later in the night. She sits up and tiredly rubs her eyes as Trini takes off her boots.

“Is it my turn to be on watch?” Kimberly asks.

“No, I woke up Zack. Don't worry about it” Trini whispers as she lies down beside her.

“Okay” Kimberly mutters as she lies back down. They both lay there in silence for a while and Kimberly knows Trini isn't sleeping by the sound of her breathing.

“Hey Trin?” she says and Trini turns on her side to face her. Kimberly does the same, noticing how close they are before she breathes slowly to gather herself.

“Do you hate me?” she asks and Trini scoffs.

“How could I possibly hate you?” 

“After what I did, I wouldn't blame you.”

“Kim” Trini says softly as she reaches out and pushes a loose strand of hair behind Kimberly’s ear and then lets her palm rest on her face. “You made a mistake, that doesn't make you a bad person. Especially not if you regret it.” She’s about to pull her hand back but Kimberly grabs her wrist and latches onto it. She runs her thumb on Trini’s wrist as the air between them thickens and they’re both frozen. 

Then Kimberly finally leans in hesitantly. Her eyes dart from Trini’s lips to her eyes and back, and she notices that Trini’s are doing the same. She doesn't move again until Trini shuffles a bit closer and Kimberly leans in again and captures Trini’s lips with her own. It’s soft and slow at first and Trini doesn't pull back. They pull back hesitantly and look into each other’s eyes, both of them with the same questioning look and when they realize that they both want more, they bring their lips together again. Kimberly is surprised by how soft Trini’s lips are as opposed to her rough exterior. Or the rough exterior she tries to display.

She feels Trini’s hand move onto the back of her neck and into her hair over the nape of her neck as she pulls her closer and Kimberly can't help but grip Trini’s hips to get her even closer. She almost doesn't notice the small whimpers she’s letting out against Trini’s lips. Trini’s lips suddenly start moving to her cheek and Kimberly shivers as she feels Trini’s soft warm breath escaping onto Kimberly’s skin as her soft pecks start moving from her cheek to her jaw and finally to her neck. 

The next thing she notices is Trini slowly pushing her onto her back as she straddles her and kisses her again. This kiss is more rough and messy than before and Kimberly can’t help but run her fingers into the other girl’s locks. Trini sighs into their next kiss before Kimberly feels her tongue moving against her lips and finally into her mouth.

They suddenly hear wood clanking outside the tent from Zack throwing more wood into the fire and they pull back abruptly, both of them panting with their faces flushed.

Kimberly absentmindedly touches her lips with the tips of her fingers as she feels a smirk forming on her face. Trini looks too flustered to react beyond that so she clears her throat.

“Well” Trini drawls out before she clears her throat again, awkwardly as she tries to avoid eye-contact at all costs.

“Yeah” Kimberly says softly. “We should talk about this.”

“Yeah” Trini mumbles. “Tomorrow morning” she says as she lies down turning her back to Kimberly.

Kimberly smiles again as her fingers hover over lips and she lies back down before eventually falling asleep.

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

Kimberly wakes up the next morning to the sound Jason yelling after seemingly tripping over something. She then hears Billy ask him if he’s okay and then Zack laughing. She stretches as much as she can in the small confine of the tent and rolls onto her back. Besides the boys talking outside, she can also hear a few different sounds from outside as well as the stream in the distance. It’s actually pretty peaceful until she remembers that they’re basically running for their lives and trapped on this island. She turns over again to look at Trini who is still fast asleep so she gets up as slowly as possible and exits the tent to not disturb her.

She squints to adjust her eyes to the sunlight shining through the trees. Billy, Jason and Zack are sitting on the logs that were set up around the now-extinguished fire, eating some kind of canned food.

“Ah sleeping beauty number one is awake” Zack teases as soon as he sees her.

Kimberly just grunts tiredly as she looks through the supplies to find something to eat. “Why didn’t you wake me up last night? I thought I was supposed to have the watch shift after you” Kimberly asks as she finds a protein bar and an apple in the bag which she chooses to eat.

“I did. Well I tried. I came up to your tent to wake you up and Trini just told me to let you sleep a bit more so she took the next shift” Zack says as he takes another bite of his canned beans with a plastic spoon.

“Oh” Kimberly freezes at that revelation as soon as she sits down. “Is that why she’s still asleep then?”

“Obviously” Zack grins. “Unless you two were up doing other stuff last night” he wiggles his eyebrows and Kimberly rolls her eyes. “But we can wake her up if you’re ready to go-”

“No, it’s okay. Let her sleep a bit more” Kimberly says as she takes a bite of her apple. 

“An apple and a protein bar aren’t gonna get you through the day princess” Kimberly turns around and sees Trini tiredly exiting the tent and walking up to the rest of them. “You need to eat more than that for breakfast” Trini continues as she finds two cans of food and two plastic spoons from the bag before handing one of each to Kimberly as she sits next to her.

“Crazy girl! We were just talking about you” Zack says with a smirk.

“Really? Good things I hope” Trini says as she grins at Kimberly. Kimberly swallows thickly as she smiles back, feeling her cheeks heat up. “We should leave as soon as we’re done eating. The faster we move, the better” Trini adds in a more serious tone.

Jason and Billy stand up after finishing off their own breakfasts and stretch. “We’ll start gathering all our stuff” Jason says as he and Billy make their way to one of the tents and start rolling it up. Zack follows soon after, rolling up the other tent which leaves the two girls alone.

Kimberly turns to Trini and sees the shorter girl staring before she quickly looks away to cover it up and Kimberly can’t help but smile. She finishes her breakfast and waits for Trini to finish hers before they start packing up their tent together.

“It’s ‘tomorrow’ now” Kimberly says. “Should we talk?” she says a bit hesitantly as she watches the other girl stiffen beside her.

Trini clears her throat nervously as she avoids Kimberly’s gaze. “I-If you want” she stutters. “I’m sorry if I made things weird or something” she says.

“What? No, no- I’m the one that started it- I’m- You didn’t uhm-” Kimberly stammers before she sighs and composes herself. “I don’t regret it” she says firmly and Trini finally looks at her, her eyes wide. 

Her gaze softens before she mutters “Me neither.”

Silence falls upon them as they finish packing up before Kimberly decides to speak up again.

“I like you” she says as she glances over to the boys who are still packing up on the other side of their small camp site and oblivious to their conversation. “When we were on the ship and you were with that girl it-” she swallows thickly, “It bothered me for some reason.” She doesn't know what kind of reaction to expect from Trini but she doesn't expect her laugh.

“Didn’t know you were the jealous type, Hart” she teases and Kimberly rolls her eyes.

“I’m not, and that’s the thing. I never get jealous, but when I saw you with her and she was wearing your jacket-”

Trini’s gaze softens as she moves closer and traces her fingers on the lining of said jacket which Kimberly kept on since the night before. “The reason it didn’t work out with her, is because when I saw her wearing this jacket - my jacket - I realized that all I could think of was you and the night you wore this jacket” she mutters and Kimberly swears she sees a blush creeping up on the shorter girl’s face.

She smiles as she cups Trini’s face and pulls her in for a short kiss on the lips before she moves to softly kiss Trini’s cheek and pulls back.

“I’d say ‘get a room’ but since we’re in the jungle I guess we’ll have to get used to seeing all your PDA” Zack teases and Trini turns to give him a menacing glare which just makes Kimberly chuckle. She moves her hand down to interlace their fingers as she kisses Trini’s forehead and then moves bak to pick up her backpack.

“Let’s get going then” Kimberly says with a smile as they gather the last of their things and start making their way deeper into the jungle.

 

—————————

 

They eventually reach the island’s larger river, which goes almost all the way through the island, and follow it up north to get to the cliffs. Or at least close to the cliffs because this island is so much bigger than Kimberly had thought. She sighs as she tightens the straps of her backpack to try to relieve herself of the weight on her back. 

She looks to the others and they all seem equally as tired as her. They’re following Billy’s lead since he read the map in Zordon’s journal so many times that he memorized it. And he still hasn't finished going through the whole journal either. Kimberly watches him as they follow the open trail next to the river as he keeps his eyes glued to the book and manages to not trip over anything, impressively enough. There are times when he gets stuck on a couple of pages trying to figure something out and he smiles happily when he eventually does.

Kimberly always notices how Jason smiles at Billy’s reactions but doesn't say anything because she knows he’ll bring up her thing with Trini. Even though her thing with Trini has… developed.

They’re both attracted to each other, obviously, but there’s still a bit of unsureness there coming from the fact that they’re mainly trying to focus on surviving th jungle on an uninhabited, possibly haunted, island.

“How are we not even half way there?” Kimberly complains as she pulls down the baseball cap on her head to cover her eyes from the bright sun. She’d offered to give the cap back to Trini earlier, since it was hers, but she insisted that she didn't need it.

“This place is bigger than we thought” Jason mutters, slightly out of breath. “How about a break?” Jason says as he sits down on the ground. The others follow suit, with Zack sitting next to Jason and Billy, Kimberly and Trini on a log by the waterline.

Trini pulls out some binoculars from her bag at one point and looks ahead on the river. “Holy shit” she gasps, getting everyone else’s attention. 

“There’s a boat up there” she says.

“A boat?” Jason asks. “What kind of boat?”

“Like an actual old little riverboat. With and engine and everything. Probably from the team that found this place after Zordon. Come on, let’s go!” Trini says enthusiastically as she picks up her large backpack and starts walking again as the others following suit with a few exasperated sighs.

They reach the boat which seems to be stuck in some mud on the edge of the river where the water is shallow. Zack immediately jumps on board and opens the wooden hatch to find the engine. 

“Think you can fix it?” Jason asks. 

“Definitely! I’ve worked on worse” Zack says as he looks around for tools.

“You’re a mechanic?” Kimberly asks.

“Self taught since high school” Trini adds. “He can fix almost anything” she says with a bit of a proud smile.

Trini jumps on-board next and starts looking for anything salvageable or useful as Kimberly, Billy and Jason sit by the edge of the river with their backpacks.

Silence fills the air besides the clanging sounds from Zack fixing the engine and Billy muttering to himself next to Kimberly as he continues reading Zordon’s journal. Jason is lying down beside him with his head rested on a small log behind him and Trini’s sitting on the boat with her legs dangling off the edge and swinging them around as she looks out to the view of the river ahead of her. She turns at one point and catches Kimberly staring and smiles at her. Kimberly smiles back before turning away with a blush.

She thinks she hears a splash or something from the river behind her but doesn't see anything when she turns around. She closes her eyes and tilts her head back as she leans back on her palms, taking in the warmth of the sun on her skin.

There's even more silence around them as Zack sits back to take a break from working on the engine. Kimberly can see Trini lie down in her spot on the ship from the corner of her eye. 

The next thing she hears is another splash from behind her and a yelp from Jason, but before she can turn around something's pulling her from the backpack on her back and into the water. 

She doesn’t register what’s happening until she feels herself being spun underwater from something that’s got her backpack in a death grip. She only sees the bubbles coming from the air from her mouth as she screams and then she can’t breathe. The force behind her tugs her even deeper into the water before it stops spinning. When she's able to focus again she looks over her shoulder and sees a massive crocodile. And she really means _massive_. It’s so much bigger than a crocodile should be and some of its scales and parts of its body seem to be covered in a layer of gold somehow, but before she can think any further it goes into a death roll again with her backpack as it tightens its jaw’s grip.

She hears splashing around her but she can’t tell if it’s from her and the crocodile or if someone or something else has jumped in the water above her. She feels herself being jolted backwards as the crocodile finally rips part of her backpack apart and she attempts to get out of the straps, which proves to be harder with all the pulling, before it can grab her. 

It suddenly lets go and Kimberly turns around to see Trini with a combat knife trying to scare off the crocodile by stabbing it. It seems to be irritated by the stabbing because it swims off and Trini swims over to Kimberly and grabs her arm before she starts pulling her up to the surface.

When they finally surface, Kimberly feels herself gasping for air as Trini starts pulling her to shore as fast as she can. Kimberly tries to swim but her head is still spinning and she’s still trying to catch her breath. 

She sees Zack run over to them when they reach the shoreline as he helps Trini carry Kimberly out of the water. They lie her down against a tree away from the water and she looks around as she clears her head.

“Zack, get Billy and get that boat into the water now!” Trini yells and Zack runs over to Billy who’s more focused on Jason who is also leaning on a tree next to Kimberly. The bottom of Jason's pants on his left leg is lifted up, revealing a bleeding gash.

Billy doesn't seem to notice Zack as he tries to focus on Jason but Trini reassures him that she’ll take care of him so Billy hesitantly stands up to help Zack. The two boys run up to the boat and start pushing it into the water, shallow enough for them to walk up to and deep enough for the boat to actually float. 

“Kim, I need to check on Jason” Trini says softly as she pushes the hair out of Kimberly’s face and cups her face. “Just breathe for me, okay?” she says as she goes to stand up. Kimberly grabs her wrist before she can move.

“Trini” she pleads before she hesitantly loosens her grip. Trini just holds her hand and squeezes reassuringly.

“I’ll be right here” Trini says sotfly as she lets go and moves over to Jason. He winces as he tries to move his leg a bit but Trini tells him to not move too much. 

“It’s not too deep” Trini says as she looks the wound over. “We’ll clean it up as soon as we get on the boat.”

Zack and Billy finally get the boat afloat before they run over to Jason and help him stand as they help him onto the boat. Trini turns to Kimberly and holds out her hand to help her stand up. She doesn't let go as she leads Kimberly over to the boat.

Zack is trying to get the engine started as Billy reaches down from the deck to help Kimberly climb up as Trini helps her from behind. Another hiss grabs their attention and they turn to see one of the crocodiles making its way up the shoreline and up to them.

“Billy, throw me a gun!” Trini yells as she keeps her eye on the crocodile which is almost circling her and Kimberly. Billy scrambles around the deck until he finds the bag of weapons and pulls out a pistol before tossing it to Trini.

She shoots two warning shots into the dirt in front of the crocodile but it doesn’t seemed fazed. The gold covering part of its body seems to be spreading to cover it whole and Kimberly can’t help but stare at how strange it is because it looks almost mystical.

Trini shoots again, this time hitting it in the back and it jerks back at the impact before snarling at her again. Billy is finally able to pull Kimberly on deck and Trini pushes the boat the remainder of the way into the water. The crocodile lunges again but Trini is able to climb onto the boat quickly enough to avoid getting hit with help from Billy. 

She lets out a sigh of relief as soon as she sits on-deck. Kimberly still feels her heart racing from the whole ordeal but doesn't say anything as she moves over to Jason whose leg is outstretched in front of him. Zack is steering the small boat so he wouldn't be able to help much so Kimberly grabs the backpack that has medical supplies and starts going through it. Her own backpack, which contained one of the tents and some food, was ripped to shreds, but at least they have medical supplies.

She feels Billy hovering over her anxiously as she digs through the bag and Trini quickly runs to her side to look over Jason’s wound again.

“Zack!” Trini calls out. “Switch” she says as she walks over to the boat’s steering room. Zack rushes over to Jason and looks over the wound. Kimberly hands him the antiseptic and some gauze. 

“You know what to do?” Kimberly asks.

“Yeah, I’ve had a lot of medical experience in the past. Hand me a bottle of water” he says as he slowly poor some antiseptic on Jason’s wound.

Jason winces as he groans through gritted teeth. “Shit that burns” he says.

“I know man, but we gotta get it clean” Zack says as he pour some water on the wound and starts cleaning it with gauze and Jason winces again. Billy sits beside him and glances at him worriedly but Jason smiles at him reassuringly as much as he can through the pain.

Kimberly sits back on the wooden deck and buries her face in her palms and sighs. She swallows thickly as she tries to calm herself down now that they’re all safe but can’t seem to get her heart to stop racing.

“Kim, come up here” Trini says and Kimberly stands up before making her way to Trini at the steering wheel. She looks at Kimberly who is still drenched and reaches into her backpack to pull out a blanket to give her. “Put this on you” she says and Kimberly takes the blanket before wrapping it around her shoulders.

“Thanks” she mutters as she tightens it around her and sits down on the small bench built into the wall next to her. Trini gives her another sympathetic look before looking ahead again.

“You okay there, princess?” Trini asks worriedly and Kimberly shrugs.

“I’m fine. I’m not hurt.”

“Yeah but you still look freaked out” Trini says softly as she holds her hand out for Kimberly to take. Kimberly looks at it hesitantly and Trini rolls her eyes and sticks her hand out further. Kimberly takes it and Trini pulls her closer. She grips Kimberly’s hand reassuringly and gives her a smile that makes Kimberly’s heart melt.

“You ever steer a boat before?” she asks and Kimberly’s a bit taken aback by her question.

“N-No, I don’t know how” she stutters.

“Come on, it’s easy” Trini says as she pulls Kimberly closer and places her hands on the steering wheel. She then wraps her own arms around Kimberly and rests her head on her shoulder to guide her.

Kimberly melts into the other girl and isn’t really able to focus on most of Trini’s instructions as she embraces the comforting warmth pressed against her back.

Everything else is drowned out with Trini’s voice being the only thing she hears as she looks ahead on the river.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little bit of a filler but with some hints of Rita showing up soon. I'll update soon too!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a while! School has been busy lately. Anyway, here's the next chapter!

The sun starts to set as they continue to make they way down the river which is just as breathtaking, if not more, in the low and warm sunlight as it was before. Zack’s steering the boat now, Jason and Billy are sitting at the back together, and Kimberly’s sitting up front with Trini beside her with their legs dangling off the edge under the rails as they lean against the rail bars. 

Kimberly can feel the water splashing on her ankles from below as the boat glides on the water as she takes in the fresh air around her. It’s been relatively quiet and the boat’s given them a good head-start in escaping the ship’s crew and in finding the crystal. This is definitely the most peace and quiet they've gotten in a while.

A few gunshots go off in the distance and Kimberly tenses. She reaches for Trini’s hand and instantly feels more at ease when she feels the other girl’s comforting grip. She hears the engine turn off and she and Trini turn around to see Zack walk through the open doorway of the small steering room to look in the direction of the shots in the jungle behind them. Trini gets up and makes her way over to him, looking a bit worried so Kimberly follows.

A few more gunshots go off in the distance and the five of them stand there in silence, listening. 

“They don’t sound too close” Zack says.

“That doesn’t meant they won’t catch up” Trini adds with a sigh. “We should stay on the boat tonight. It’s safer from predators and we’ll also be far enough from shore to see any of the crew members coming at us before they get too close.”

“Then we’d be out in the open” Jason says.

“It’s better than having the darkness and the jungle around us” Zack adds.

“We’d need an anchor” Billy says. Trini nods before she walks to the front of the boat to open the front hatch. She climbs in and looks around a bit before she pulls out a few things and sets them on the front deck.

“We have an anchor. Plus some old diving gear and a flare gun” she says as she returns to the back deck with the others.

“We’d have to set up night shifts again” Zack sighs.

“I can go first” Kimberly offers and she sees Trini about to argue against it but she holds up a finger to stop her. “Don’t even start, you had two shifts last time because you refused to wake me up. Plus, you need to sleep,” she finishes and Trini grumbles incoherently as she crosses her arms and Kimberly just smiles.

“Wake me up, if you see anything” Trini finally says before she moves to the front of the deck to gather the supplies she found in the hatch and Billy follows her.

“Damn you really got her whipped” Zack says with a grin and Kimberly rolls her eyes.

“No I don’t,” she laughs.

“Oh please” Zack laughs. “I’ve literally never seen her listen to anyone like that. She’s too stubborn. You’ve got skills, Hart” Zack teases and Kimberly gives him a smug grin before she sits beside Jason. Zack chuckles before he moves to the front deck to help Trini.

“How’s your leg?” Kimberly asks.

“Meh, could be worse. It hurts but no infection, so that’s good” Jason says with a shrug as he looks down at his now wrapped up leg. “How’re you holding up?”

“Could be worse” she smiles. 

“Yeah, I guess so” Jason smiles back. “Hey, at least you finally made a move” he says as he glances over at Trini and Kimberly blushes.

“Yeah” she smiles as she watches the other girl fondly. “Now we just gotta find that crystal and get off this damn island” she sighs and Jason nods.

The others eventually return from the front deck and they all start preparing for the night ahead of them.

———————————

When night falls, they drop their anchor into the water. The one light on the boat doesn't actually work anymore but they have a couple of flashlights to use instead. They turn them off before going to sleep to not draw any attention to themselves but Kimberly keeps one beside her just in case she needs it while on watch duty. The boys are asleep at the back of the boat with a few blankets and with their backpacks as pillows but Trini hasn't gone to bed yet. 

She’s currently sitting next to Kimberly on top of the wooden roof of the small control room fidgeting with one of Kimberly’s silver rings on her hand as she interlaces their fingers.

“You should go to bed” Kimberly says softly, snapping Trini out of her trance.

“Not tired yet” she mumbles and Kimberly chuckles.

“Yeah right” she says as she brings their interlocked hands up to her face and presses a small peck on the back of Trini’s hand. “Please get some sleep. For me?” 

Trini sighs. “Fine” she says before she leans in and kisses Kimberly on the cheek before she jumps off the roof as quietly as she can and grabs a blanket as she lies down beside the boys to sleep.

The first hour goes by quickly but the next one feels like it’s dragging. Kimberly jumps off the roof and starts pacing a bit before she settles on one of the wooden benches on the outline of the deck.

She paces a bit more and it’s almost time for her to wake up Zack, who’s on shift next, when a nearby splash gets her attention. It sounded like it was right next to the boat so she grabs a flashlight and shines it on the water a bit to see if she can see anything.

The water is rippled as if something had just moved but she doesn't see anything besides that. Could just be an animal. She hopes it’s just an animal. She tells Zack about it when she wakes him up for his shift and he says he’ll keep an eye out for it, so she lies down next to Trini and curls up beside her before falling asleep.

—————————

A sudden loud bang underneath her is what wakes her up instead of the morning sun like she expected. She jerks up and feels the boat rocking as she tries to clear her head of sleep. Billy’s at the front of the deck, he was probably on watch duty, and the others are equally as startled as her.

“What was that?” Trini asks and before anyone can even think of answering, something hits the small boat from underneath again and rocks it. “Oh not this shit again!” Trini curses as she stands up quickly and runs up to the front of the deck to pull up the anchor. 

Billy tuns over to help her and Zack runs into the control room to turn on the engine. Another hit and the boat rocks again.

“What the hell is that?” Kimberly yells and suddenly a crocodile surfaces beside the boat. It’s even bigger than the last ones, unnaturally big, and it’s entirely covered in gold. It submerges again before it launches out of the water and onto the side of the boat. It’s almost as big as the boat itself and its weight is almost tilting the boat down into the water. Zack runs up to the weapon’s bag and pulls out an assault riffle before he starts shooting at it. But the bullets seem to have almost no effect on it besides a few flinches. And then it’s growing. Like actually growing bigger right in front of their eyes. And Kimberly still cant get over the fact that it’s a giant golden crocodile. 

“Zack, anchor’s up! Get us out of here!” Trini yells and Zack runs runs up to the steering wheel and starts the engine before moving the boat forward at a fast speed, and is finally able to get the croc to slip off.

“I’m so tired of these damn crocodiles!” Zack yells when they’re finally at a safe distance as he slows the boat down. “And we don’t even have that much fuel left” he groans.

“Guys” Billy suddenly says. “I was reading Zordon’s journal earlier on my shift and I think I know what’s wrong with those crocodiles” he says and the others all gather nearby him to listen. “Zordon said something about some animals covered in gold. And they seemed bigger and more aggressive than usual. It looks like it’s somehow connected to Rita and whatever she’s getting her power from. There’s some kind of golden… creature that’s connected to her and that listens to her. It can control animals and can even take their forms when needed. I guess that’s what that was back there.”

“Why does this keep getting more and more complicated? Why can’t we just sleep in peace?” Trini groans. “So now the water isn’t safe either?”

“This thing could still find us on land” Jason adds.

“So basically nowhere is safe” Kimberly sighs as she runs a hand through her hair. “I think we should get back to land. We’re too exposed out here” she adds and the others all agree. Zack steers them towards the shore and they gather their things before they start walking again.

They find a small clearing in the jungle to set their things up in and they decide to rest for the rest of the night.

Kimberly yawns as she lies down on the ground with her sleeping bag and blanket and stretches her arms before she looks over at Trini expectantly. She opens her arms for the other girl to lie down against her but Trini just shakes her head.

“I’ll go on watch next” she mutters before she sits down against a tree. She looks worried, scared even, and Kimberly wants to ask her about it but choses not to. Not yet. So she turns on her side and drifts off to sleep.

——————————

Trini hasn't been the type of person to really give into fear. She’s done tons of things that most people would consider terrifying and besides the obvious hesitation and nervousness at first, she’d gotten used to channeling that fear away. 

But now, she’s facing a sorceress on a haunted island with a gold monster and it’s not something she can face with a weapon. She can’t protect the others - she can’t protect Kim - and there’s nothing she can do to change that. Everything they’re facing is so much bigger than any of them and there’s a big chance that they won’t survive.

But she can’t think of that now. The future is too uncertain and she needs to focus on keeping watch right now. Because her friends need her. This is what she’s paid to do, protect them. And she’ll sacrifice as much sleep that she needs to in order to do that.

“Trini?” Billy says suddenly brining her out of her thoughts. Billy’s making his way over to her when she turns to him. 

“Can’t sleep?” she asks.

“No. Mind if I stay up with you for a while?” he asks and Trini simply nods with a smile. Billy’s still holding the journal as he sits down beside her. He starts flipping through a few pages again.

They sit in silence for a while before Billy speaks up again.

“You know, my dad was an archeologist” he says and Trini turns to him more rapt with attention.

“He was?”

“Yeah. That’s why I’m here. I mean, I’m not exactly an archeologist like Kim and Jason obviously, but I’m good with coordinates and finding things. Dad had trouble with some of that stuff. He preferred digging” Billy says as he traces his finger across the edge of the journal with a frown on his face. “He died when I was in high school. Car accident.”

“I’m sorry, Billy” Trini frowns.

“It’s okay. I- I’ve been getting better with it. I mean, I have my mom and everything but it’s been hard. But- I don’t miss him as much now that I have you guys.”

“Yeah. We’re like a little adventurer family” she jokes.

“How about you? What’s your family like?” he asks innocently and Trini tenses. “Oh. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to-”

“No it’s fine. I just didn’t always get along with them too well. They were always this ‘picture-perfect’ family and I was… I didn’t fit their standards for that. So I was kinda alone before I met Zack.”

“And you have the rest of us now” Billy offers.

“Yeah I guess so,” Trini says hesitantly. Billy eventually gets tired and says goodnight before going off to sleep, leaving Trini alone.

It was true, she did have the others now but she can't help but think of what would happen when they all got off this island. Would they just all move on with their own lives? Might as well. She and Zack wouldn't fit into the kind of world Billy, Jason and Kimberly were going to be living when they returned. This might as well be a temporary arrangement. That’s how these things always went. Trini shifts against the tree as she feels the wooden bumps and the roughness digging into her back so she stands up and walks around the campsite.

She tries to convince herself that the others don’t mean that much to her, that Kimberly doesn’t mean that much to her, that it’s just another job. As much as she tries to convince herself, it doesn’t work. Because for the first time in a long time, ever since she met Zack, she feels like she’s found people to connect with again.

She circles the campsite a couple of more times and nothing seems out of the ordinary so she starts making her way back to the center of the camp to sit by the others. But then it suddenly gets quiet. And then it gets really cold around her, that same chill racing up her spine from the attack at crew’s campsite. 

Her eyes widen as she pulls her pistol out from the holster on the back of her waistband and aims into the darkness in the jungle in front of her. She’s about to yell, to warn the others, but something cold covers her mouth and the next thing she knows, she’s surrounded by darkness. She blinks and she’s no longer at the campsite.

She feels the menacing and cold energy radiating from the figure behind her and she’s turned around and pushed into a rock wall with a clawed hand gripping her throat.

She finally gets a look at the figure, who looks human. Rita. She’s wearing some sort of green armor which only covers parts of her body, as if parts of it were broken off, and her dark hair is tied up. She looks like she’s been through hell with all the grime and dirt on her and she grins as she tightens her grip on Trini’s neck, lifting her off the ground.

“Hello Didi” she says menacingly.

“Rita” Trini snarls.

“Oh so you _do_ know of me” she says. “I’m surprised Zordon actually told you” she says and when Trini looks at her hesitantly she laughs. “So he _didn't_ tell you. Same old Zordon. Looking out for no one but himself.” Trini feels Rita’s claws digging into her skin as her grip tightens again and she looks back to Trini as if she’s contemplating what to do next. 

Trini realizes that she doesn't have her gun anymore, must’ve dropped it, so she pulls out her knife as quickly as she can and slashes Rita’s arms. Rita’s grip loosens as she yelps and Trini uses it to her advantage to kick Rita away from her and push her into the rock wall behind her while bringing the knife up to her throat.

“No! Please don’t hurt me!” Rita pleads and Trini thinks she sees fear in her eyes before Rita starts chuckling again. “Just kidding” she snarls before pushing Trini off of her and flipping them so she can pin Trini to the wall again as she holds her up by her throat. “You’re a feisty one, aren't you? That just makes this more fun” she grins and Trini struggles against her with no success. “Now tell me, where’s the crystal?” Trini struggles again and tries to kick out at Rita but her grip is too strong.

“I don’t know” she grunts. Rita looks her over one more time before her smile fades.

“Sadly I believe you. You’re not one of the archeologists,” Rita scoffs before she grins again. “But you can still be useful. You remind me of myself, Didi. You’re a bit of an outsider, a loner, willing to help everyone and only met with rejection in the end.”

“What are you-”

“Oh please. They aren't your friends, you’re just working for them! After this is over they’ll forget about you. All they want is the crystal.”

“So do you,” Trini says through gritted teeth.

“The difference is, I know what the crystal does. I know how to control it. If your friends get it off this island, who knows what they’ll do with it?”

Trini hesitates before responding to that because she really doesn't know what’ll happen if they get that crystal off the island. They might sell it or maybe put it in a museum but either way that’s too much power to be out in the world where anyone can get a hold of it.

“You know I’m right” Rita smirks. “Help me find the crystal and I’ll make sure it won't fall into the wrong hands.”

Trini scoffs. “Like you’re any better” she says as she rolls her eyes. Rita snarls as throws Trini into the other rock wall behind her.

“If you value your life you’ll meet me back in this cave at midnight to tell me where the crystal is. Choose wisely” she snaps before she disappears again.

“Bitch” Trini mutters before she lifts herself off the ground and walks out of the cave. “Great…” she says as looks around not seeing the campsite anywhere nearby. She can hear the river nearby and she can see the cliffs directly behind her so if she follows the river down she'll eventually find the boat which would help her find the campsite again. She sighs as she starts walking.

—————————————

“No I will not calm down!” Kimberly yells as she starts packing up. “We need to find her, who knows how long she’s been gone?!”

“Kimberly, I’m sure she’s fine. She probably just went for a walk or-” Jason tries but Kimberly’s glare cuts him off.

“She wouldn’t leave without saying anything” she whimpers as she continues packing her bag. Yes it would be dangerous and impulsive to pack up and start looking for Trini in the jungle in the middle of the night but Kimberly wouldn’t accept any other option because Trini could be in trouble for all she knew. And the fact that she just left without saying anything or waking up whoever would be on watch next was even more worrying. Kimberly had noticed that she was gone when she woke up at some point to look for Trini who wasn't next to her when she reached over. That had been four hours after Trini’s shift started and it should’ve been someone else’s turn to be on watch by then.

“Kim, just breathe” Zack says as he rests a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Crazy girl can take care of herself. We’ll find her.”

“No need” a voice says from behind them and Kimberly immediately stands up and runs in that direction because she knows that voice. 

She immediately pulls Trini into a hug when she reaches her and buries her face in her neck. “Please tell me I was just overreacting and worrying over you going for a walk” she breathes and she hears Trini chuckle before she pulls away to look at her and notices a scrape on the shorter girl’s forehead as well as some scratches on her neck and a cut on her lower lip. “What happened?” she asks as the worry starts to set in again, her hand reaching up to rest on Trini’s cheek.

Trini winces put doesn't pull back. Her eyes look like they’re tearing up a bit as she takes a deep breath to calm herself but Kimberly doesn't mention it. She keeps her eyes fixated on Trini as the boys make their way up to them.

“It was Rita” Trini’s voice cracks and Kimberly’s hand moves down to grip Trini's softly.

“What’d she say?” Billy asks.

“She wants the crystal. She wanted me to tell her where it is,” she says and the others stiffen.

“You-You didn’t-” Jason asks looking a bit worried and Trini glares at him.

“You really think I’d-” she scoffs. “Of course I didn’t! But that doesn't mean she wont find it.”

“But she doesn't know where it is,” Kimberly adds.

“But she knows that we know where it is. What if she follows us?” Trini says.

“We won’t let her get to it” Jason says and Trini scoffs.

“How are we gonna stop her? She’s got powers and a gold monster! She easily could kill us if she wanted to!”

“T’s right” Zack adds. “She took out an entire camp of armed guys.”

“We’ll solve that problem when we get to it” Kimberly says.

“There’s no way to solve that problem, Kim. We’re in over our heads” Trini says.

“Well there’s nothing else we can do” Kimberly starts. “We find the crystal and then-”

“What?” Trini says and Kimberly can hear the disappointment in her voice.

“We can’t just let Rita or the crew find it" Kimberly offers.

“And what would we do after _we_ found it?” Trini glares.

“We get out of here. If we leave it here Rita or the crew could-”

“Are you serious right now, Kim?!” Trini says. “You said that you wouldn’t let anything bad happen if we found this thing and now you wanna take it off the island?”

Zack whistles, sensing the tension as he walks to the other side of their camp with Billy and Jason right behind him.

“That was the plan all along, Trini. You knew that when you took the job” Kimberly says firmly.

“Yeah but now we know how powerful this crystal is. We can't just take it off the island.”

“Trini you know I wouldn’t let it fall into the wrong hands. We’re doing this so Rita doesn't get it.”

“You cant control everything, Kim” Trini sighs. “Once we get back, some museum is gonna buy it or some rich guy with a weird collection or maybe the government will want it. You won’t have control over what happens after that. This thing is too strong to be put in the hands of people that’ll exploit it!”

“We cant just leave it here!” 

“Yes we can! We contact Zordon to get us out of here and let the island deal with Rita and the crew, they wont survive.”

“And what if they find the crystal? It might take them a while but they’ll eventually find it! Do we just stand by and let that happen?!” Kimberly yells.

“We’re not better than them if we take this crystal with us!”

“Guys…” Billy suddenly interrupts. “Look, I know this is a tough decision but fighting won’t help.”

“Billy’s right” Jason says. “We need to find a new solution.”

“But-” Kimberly starts.

“I know, Kim. I get where you’re coming from. But you’re-”

“You’re both wrong” Zack says. “And you’re both right too technically.”

Trini sighs. “They’re right. If we leave, Rita could still find the crystal.”

“And we can’t take the crystal with us” Kimberly mutters. “So what do we do exactly?” 

“We take out Rita” Trini says.

“But how?” Zack says. “She’s too powerful.”

“We use the crystal” Billy suddenly says and the others turn to him shocked. “That’s how Zordon did it. We find the temple and use the crystal to defeat Rita. Then we do whatever Zordon did and get the temple to move and be hidden again.”

“What about the crew?” Jason asks.

“Well there aren't as many after Rita's attack so Trini and I could try to handle them” Zack says.

“And then what?” Kimberly asks.

“Like Trini said, we contact Zordon with the crew’s equipment and get out of here” Jason says. “So we’re all in agreement?” he asks and they all nod. “Okay good. Now we should finally get some sleep. I’ll go on watch next.”

They start moving to their spots at different areas of the camp and Trini looks at Kimberly a bit awkwardly before she lies down beside her. They stare at each other in silence and Kimberly can feel the tension growing.

“I’m sorry” she blurts out.

“I’m sorry too” Trini says.

“We were both just trying to do what we thought was right” she says and Trini nods. Then more silence. “Listen I don’t- I’m not doing this for the fame and glory. I meant what I said, I’m gonna let anything bad happen.”

“Kim” Trini sighs. “We can’t just take the crystal back with us, we all agreed-”

“I know, I know. That’s not why I’m saying this. I just… Think of all the lives that could be saved with the crystal.”

“Think of all the lives that could be lost because of the crystal” Trini adds and Kimberly sighs.

“You’re right” her voice cracks.

“Kim, I get it. You think I don't want to use a magical crystal that can help save lives? It’s just too irresponsible to expose that power to the world. People will use it for their own interests and things’ll just get worse. I’ve learned through experience that power isn't always a good thing” she says. 

"You're right" Kimberly swallows thickly as she studies the worry on Trini's face. "You're still worried?"

"What if we can't take Rita?" Trini asks and silence takes over again.

"Whatever happens, we'll all be together and we'll do everything we can." Kimberly says and Trini nods.

Kimberly feels Trini's fingers brushing against her cheek so she curls up against Trini’s side, resting her head on her chest. She melts against her when she feels Trini’s arm wrap around her. Eventually she drifts off to sleep to the sound of Trini’s steady heartbeat.

 


End file.
